The Family Emergency
by celrock
Summary: Partially parodies an actual event that's been going on in my family since July 4, 2015. When grandpa Lou ends up in the hospital after nearly taking his own life, it's up to the Rugrats, to save him, but it won't be as easy to do as they thought. Inside Out characters appear come chapter 5.
1. Lou's Secret

The Family Emergency

Summary: Partially parodies an actual event that's been going on in my family since July 4, 2015. When grandpa Lou ends up in the hospital after nearly taking his own life, it's up to the Rugrats, to save him, but it won't be as easy to do as they thought. Story may be told from multiple POV's, and don't be surprised if it disappears with no notice, should my family discover it and disapprove of my story.

Disclaimer: I do not own the original Rugrat characters, they're the property of their original creaters. I own Zack, Aunty Celeste, Sherry Berry, Sandy, Reggie, and any OC's you don't recognize, while Peter is owned by TCKing12, Jesse is owned by Jesse Barrow Stories, Rosie and her family and Sandy are owned by Nairobi-harper, Hazel and Hanna are owned by HazelNutSwirl, Natalie is owned by Emma Pickles, and Courtney is owned by Tropical Blue Jay. Not sure if all of these characters will be appearing in this story, but figured I'd better cover myself, just in case. Now, on with the first chapter of this story!

Chapter 1, Lou's Secret

Lou Pickles, the father of Stu and Drew, and grandfather of Tommy and Dil, has always been an excellent card player, but what most people don't know about him, is he has always been a frequent gambler at various casinos around California, as well as other places throughout the country. It all started back when he was a teenager, and his cousin Mirium, who was twenty-one at the time, and allowed in the casinos, got him into this addictive activity. As a result of being so mean to her friends, her cousin Lou was about her only friend left on earth, because despite how she treated him, they were after all, family, and he didn't wish to outcast her at the time. She would sneak him in with a fake ID, and they'd play several rounds of Blackjack, Poker, and other various games, trying to win the jackpot. In the end, Mirium would end up cheating, causing her to become disqualified, resulting in Lou getting her winnings.

As the years passed, whenever Lou was struggling with troubled times, or feeling stressed out, he would sneak out late at night and go gamble, unknown by his family. The only time when there was any possible hint of it, was when Lou lost one time when his boys were quite little, and he couldn't supply Drew and Stu with their allowance. This prompted Drew to start saving his money come the next allowance, and he became so fascinated with money, that he grew up to become an investment banker. He was also counting and interested in numbers at the young age of three, making him interested in going into some field in mathamatics, but the profession of being a banker came into play later. Of course, when his wife, Trixi asked him that time what happened to his pay check from the repair business, Lou simply shrugged his shoulders, lying, saying that he had lost it while on the way to the bank to cash it.

This pattern continued for many years, nobody suspecting a thing, until of course, the day Trixi died. At the time, she and Lou were living in a special retirement nursing home, where the sick wife could get medical care, and the two could still be together. By this time, Drew and Charlotte had a little girl named Angelica, who was two-years-old at the time of Trixi's death, and Lou's grandson Tommy, the son of Stu and Didi, was nearly 10-months-old. Unfortunately, as a result of being under so much stress with his sick wife dying, this prompted Lou to gamble even more, and with being preoccupied, he lost, more than winning, nearly gambling the bulk of his money away. Regardless, while he still had one saving's account of his that he hadn't touched, the rule was he could only stay in the retirement home while Trixi was alive, and once she was gone, Lou would have to find a new place to live. Because he didn't have quite enough money to put down any sort of down payment on a house, and he didn't wish to live in an apartment post her death, while Stu was at the funeral, he offered his father a place to stay, so Lou accepted, moving in with his youngest son, daughter-in-law, and grandson Tommy, which was quite a delight, as he'd finally get to meet his grandson, seeing his wife was too sick for him to leave her side at the time of Tommy's birth.

After he moved in with Stu, he gambled far less, though he had quite the time doing it when they took their trip to Los Vegas, and at times, when he told Stu and Didi he would be going to play at the lodge, he was only telling the partial truth. In reality, he was going to play cards, but snuck away to a casino, and one time, he felt so guilty about losing his winnings, not to mention, staying out all night, that he faked an illness the following day, hince, the events of the 'Grandpa's Bad Bug,' episode.

After that, he didn't go gamble as much for a while, as soon, another grandson was on the way, Stu and Didi's second child Dil, and Lou was needed more than ever to help out around the house, especially since his son and daughter-in-law, now had two kids to take care of. That is, until the day the chips hit the fan, and Stu's Reptar robot exploded in the basement, prompting Lou to finally move out for good, to a retirement home that his cousin Mirium had recommended, as a bunch of her friends lived there, and she spent a lot of her time there, hanging out, as well as secretly sneakihng off to gamble, only to cheat and get disqualified. In turn, Lou met Lulu, and things seemed to calm down.

They moved into the retirement home together, and did many activities together as well. But what Lou didn't know at first, was that in Lulu's family, they were facing some problems, one of which, was her sister was on her death bed, and wanted to see Lulu a few more times, before she died. Lulu gave in, and went to visit her sister, but since it seemed as if her sister wasn't inviting Lou, Lulu went by herself. This left Lou feeling very upset, hurt, and left out, and as a result of this, they didn't get to spend their first Valentine's day together as a married couple. Upset and depressed over this, Lou went out to gamble again, something he hadn't done in quite a while. Unfortunately, he lost, and not only did he lose, but he lost all of the money he had in savings at this point.

This happened on the night Lulu was coming back from her sister's. Not wanting her to find out, he snuck back into the retirement home very late that night, hoping to not wake her up. He went to bed in a recliner in the living room, falling asleep to the late night run of the fishing show on TV, hoping Lulu wouldn't suspect a thing, but the following morning, he awoke, only to feel even more depressed. He was also awakened, by a phone call. It was Didi, asking if he would come and watch the kids.

"Uh, hello?" Lou asked into the phone sleepily.

"Hi Pop, how are you doing this morning?" Didi asked on the other side of the phone.

"Well, Lulu has safely returned from her sister's." Lou replied.

"Well I was wondering if you and Lulu could watch the kids today while Stu and I go shopping?" Didi asked into the phone.

Of course, at this point, Lou was off in a daze. For the first time, he felt so depressed, that he didn't wish to be around his grandkids, let alone, around any humans.

"I can't!" Lou snapped, very loudly into the phone, nearly startling Didi half to death on the other end, and causing Lulu to wake up with a startling start, stumbling into the kitchen, to see what was going on.

At this point, Lou had pulled a knife out of the drawer, and Lulu spotted him with it in his hand.

"Lou! What's going on here?" Lulu asked, upon walking into the small retirement home kitchen, to find Lou standing there, the knife in one hand, the phone in the other.

"Didi, get someone else to watch the kids, because I quit." Snapped Lou into the phone, as he stabbed the blade of the knife into his stomach, passing out on to the floor, dropping the phone.

"Lou!" Lulu cried, as she picked up the phone, to hear a crying Didi on the other end.

"Didi, it's Lulu, is that you?" Lulu asked.

"Yes." Didi replied through her sobs.

"I'm gonna have to call nine one one, Lou just stabbed himself with a knife and passed out on the floor. Will call you later." Said Lulu, as she hung up the phone, called 911, and within five minutes, an ambulance was at the retirement home, rushing Lou off to the hospital.

Didi couldn't believe what was going on. While she could never call Lou a father, she felt at times, she was closer to him and Lulu than her own biological parents, Boris and Minca, who only came around at the holidays it seemed, as deep down, they were very upset with their daughter for marrying a non-Jewish man, and weren't afraid to show it, by giving her the cold shoulder half the time. Lou had lived in her house for over a year, and while he did things to irritate her, falling asleep while watching the kids being one of them, especially when they ended up lost in that forrest right after her second child was born, one of the main reasons why she hired Taffy to watch the kids when she returned to school, she didn't wish to go to school, worrying if her kids would still be at her house when she returned, but regardless, she felt more attached to her father-in-law than her own parents, so for Lou to go and take his own life, and on the phone of all things, really left her feeling upset.

Upon hanging up the phone, Didi continued to cry, unsure what to think at that moment. Something was definitely wrong, if only she knew what it was. She continued to cry for a few more minutes, the cordless phone on her lap, as she occupied the room that use to belong to her father-in-law, when her two-and-a-half-year-old son tottled into the room, and climbed up on to her lap, nearly knocking the cordless phone on to the floor.

"Good morning sweetie." Didi said, wiping away the tears from her eyes, as she gave Tommy a hug.

Just then, Stu walked into the room, a worried look appearing on his face, when he saw what was going on.

"Is everything ok? And are Pop and Lulu coming to watch the kids while we go shopping?" Stu asked.

"No Stu." Didi replied.

"What's going on?" Stu asked.

"I'll tell you later, I don't wish to discuss this in front of the kids. Take Tommy and Dil downstairs and give them their breakfast." Said Didi.

"Sure thing Deed." Said Stu, as he approached her and lifted Tommy out of her lap.

"Come on Champ." Said Stu, as he carried Tommy out of the room and back into the nursery.

Didi got up from the chair at this point, and went back to her room, where she got dressed, then made some phone calls, to see who could watch Tommy and Dil for a few days, while they got this mess with her in-laws straightened out. She called the Finsters and the Devilles, but nobody answered. Then she called the Barrows, but nobody answered there either, and she knew Taffy was busy with school and getting ready for her big tour coming up the following summer in Washington D.C. so knew she wouldn't be the best candidate to watch them at this time, so she gave Peter a call.

"Good morning Didi, how goes things?" Peter asked upon receiving the phone call.

"Would it be possible for you to watch Tommy and Dil for a few days? We have a serious situation going on with my father-in-law." Didi asked.

"Oh dear, what's going on? Is Lou all right?" Peter asked.

"Afraid not. Lulu says he stabbed himself with a knife and is heading to the hospital." Said Didi.

"Sounds like a suicide attempt." Peter replied.

"Yes, I'm afraid so, and we're just, all in shock and unsure what to do at this time." Didi replied, about ready to cry again.

"Look, I wish I could help, but I have to go out of town to Quebec for the next week. I'm leaving this afternoon." Said Peter.

"Oh, well, good luck. Is this king related business or a personal trip?" Didi asked.

"Royalty related business." Peter replied.

"Well good luck, and we'll see you when you return." Didi replied.

No sooner were they about to disconnect, when Didi received a call waiting beep. It was Lulu, calling to tell them that Lou was at the hospital, being checked out. He wasn't dead, but depending on how bad the damage was, he might have to get surgery done on his stomach. She also discovered when going to get some money out of a checking account that she and Lou shared, that there was no money, and apparently, being the smart lady she was, she put two and two together. Lou had gone out gambling while she was out of town, and gambled all of their money away.

"No wonder he's upset." Said Didi.

"Yes, and I'm not sure if he told you, but Mirium recently had to go into a nursing home, as a result of becoming ill with Parkenson's Disease. We were thinking about leaving the retirement home and living in her house, but because of these events, we can only stay in her house until she dies, unless we buy it post her death, and with what I've recently discovered, because the state pays for her nursing home costs, and the state gets her house post her death, causing us to have to buy the house after she dies, which, we now can't afford, I'm afraid we don't have the funds to buy the house." Lulu replied.

"Oh dear." Didi sighed disappointingly, as another call waiting beep was heard.

Peter was calling back, just to make sure she didn't need anything else before he left for Canada. She went on to tell him what was going on, and Peter agreed to stop by with some legal documents he had around with regards to such situations that were going on, as maybe, there was a way Lou could get the money he gambled away back, making everything ok again.

"Well, it's a start, bring by what information you have, and we can go from there. Anyway, I'm in the process of lining up a sitter for Tommy and Dil, so I'll see you when you get here." Said Didi, as she hung up the phone, and gave the last person on the list a call, Zack's aunt, Celeste Wehrenberg.

"Didi! What a pleasant surprise!" Said Celeste.

"Well, I wouldn't say it's exactly pleasant for us. My father-in-law just recently tried to take his own life over gambling his entire life savings away, and is now in the hospital, and Stu and I need a huge favor from you." Said Didi.

"Say no more, I'd be happy to keep Tommy and Dil for a few days, but Zack and I leave for music class in a couple of hours, so if you can get here before nine-thirty, that would be greatly appreciated." Said Celeste.

"All right, will do." Didi replied, hanging up the phone, looking up to find Stu in the room, getting dressed.

She filled him in on everything, and Stu nearly collapsed to the floor. He knew his father could do some pretty ridiculous things, staying out all night to play cards and falling asleep while babysitting to be amongst them, but gambling his life savings away and taking his own life? Stu couldn't believe he would do this, and when it sank in, he let out a loud piercing scream.

"How could dad do this?" Stu shouted.

"Now Stu, calm down." Didi replied, hugging her sobbing husband at this point.

Once Stu was calmed down, the adults walked downstairs to see Tommy was toddling towards the bottom of the stairs, and the doorbell was ringing. They opened the door to see Peter standing there.

"I got the documents you wanted." Said Peter, as he walked into the living room.

Didi put Tommy and Dil into the playpen, and the two adults and fourteen-year-old king went into the kitchen to review the documents.

It wasn't easy to concentrate as Dil was continuing to babble and cry at the top of his lungs in the living room, but they tried hard to block it out, while looking over the documents, only to learn that the winners of the money weren't obligated to give it back, leaving Lou and Lulu, up a creek without a paddle at this point.

"Well, I'm sorry there's not much more I can do." Said Peter disappointingly.

"It's ok Peter, we'll get through this somehow." Said Didi with a sigh.

"Well I'm gonna go tell the little ones goodbye and see to heading off for my trip." Said Peter, as he excused himself from the table, and headed back into the living room, to tell Tommy and Dil goodbye.

Didi headed upstairs and packed up a few days of clothes and other things for Tommy and Dil, as she would need to take them to Zack's apartment shortly, before he and Celeste left for music class. While this was all going on, Stu got himself some Reptar cerial for breakfast, only to sit there and pick at his bowl, not wanting to eat. He was a bit shocked and beside himself at that moment.

Once Didi had everything ready, she carried the overnight bags downstairs, gathered up Tommy and Dil, took them upstairs, got them dressed, and with half an hour despair, she had her boys in the car, and drove off to Celeste's apartment. Upon getting there, she walked up to the door and dropped the boys and their stuff off.

"Thank you for watching the kids." Said Didi, as she handed Tommy, Dil, and their stuff over to Celeste in the doorway.

"It's no problem Didi, I'm happy to watch them while you get this situation resolved. And Zack will be happy to see them too." Celeste replied with a smile.

"Bye Tommy and Dil, you be good for Zack and Celeste." Said Didi, as she waved and headed back to her car.

Once in the car, she drove back home, where she picked up Stu and the two of them headed off to the hospital, where she ran into Lulu, Drew and Charlotte, who she's guessing Lulu must have called, after filling Didi in on the situation. Drew and Charlotte left Angelica at Harold's for the day, much to Angelica's dismay, and they told her that if she and Harold played nicely, she could spend the next day with the babies. Stu and Didi told them that they left Tommy and Dil at the Wehrenberg's, while they got this situation with Pop under control.

"So what's the story?" Drew asked, once everybody had found seats in the waiting room, and the room was mostly deserted for a few minutes, with the acception of the Pickles family.

"Well, the good news, Lou is still alive. The bad news, even if he doesn't need surgery, he will need to stay in the Psychic ward for a few days, while he's evaluated." Said Lulu.

"With what he pulled, I'm glad they're recommending therapy, I hope he can get the help that he needs." Said Didi.

"I just can't believe this, it's not like I can recall Pop gambling before, except for when we were in Los Vegas." Said Stu.

"You don't remember when we were kids, and he couldn't give us our allowance, because he lost his paycheck?" Drew asked.

"Of course not." Stu replied.

"Shows how much you know. He was off gambling, and didn't want us knowing about it." Said Drew.

"Oh." Stu replied.

"Please you two, let's not get into any sort of argument, not with your father the way he is right now." Said Didi.

"We're not." Snapped Drew and Stu simultaneously.

Lou was more or less, kept unconscious the rest of the day, as they saw to stopping the bleeding in his stomach, getting him patched up. Everybody went to pay him a visit, once it was safe to do so, and while a mixture of emotions passed over the group of adults, everything from shock, to sadness, to anger, however, they were relieved that he was still alive.

Once visiting hours had ended at the hospital, Lulu decided to stay the night, to ensure that Lou was going to be ok, while the rest of the adults went and got a bite to eat at a nearby Cracker Barrel. After dinner, Drew and Charlotte left to pick up Angelica from Harold's, while Stu and Didi went home to get some sleep. On the way home, Didi received a text on her phone from Celeste.

"Your son Tommy misses you." Read the text.

" _Oh dear._ " Didi thought to herself, as Stu pulled the car into the driveway, and they headed inside, where Stu went upstairs to get some sleep, exhausted. Didi was about to follow him, when her phone rang. She picked it up to find it was Celeste, calling to check in.

"I hope I didn't catch you at a bad time, I just got the kids to bed and thought I'd call to check in." Said Celeste.

"It's fine, we just got home, and were heading to bed ourselves." Said Didi.

"So, any news?" Celeste asked.

"Well, Pop is still alive, but he's still very much out of it, while they get the bleeding stopped. If they find tomorrow he's doing better, and doesn't need surgery, he'll be moved to the psych ward for treatment." Said Didi.

"Well that's good, I hope he gets the help he needs." Said Celeste.

"So, I saw your text, how are the boys?" Didi asked.

"Well, Dil seems to be doing just fine. He ate his lunch and dinner, took his nap, and went to bed without a fuss, playing nicely with Zack all day. Unfortunately, Tommy, is a different story." Celeste said.

"Oh?" Didi asked, wanting to hear more.

"Well, music class was canceled, so I took the boys to the park, ohnly to find them trying to leave the park, which told me they weren't interested in going in the first place, so we went home and had some lunch of tomato florinteen soup. Zack and Dil ate all of their lunch, but Tommy hardly touched his, so I put his away to have for dinner. Then, they played outside in the yard for a little while, only Tommy tried to escape in Zack's toy ride in car, he even tried to open the gate by standing on top of the car, or I'm assuming that's what he did, as he sent it flying into Zack's water table, causing it to fall over, making a complete mess. I put the boys down for a nap, at which time, they all fell asleep, with Zack and Dil being the first two to wake up. They played quietly in the living room, but when it got close to six o'clock, Tommy still wasn't awake, so I went and awoke him, only to be greeted by one cranky boy. He wet his pants, but I got him changed into some clean shorts and underwear, and he made the potty the rest of the day. Even after changing his wet clothes, he was still cranky, so did several things to try to calm him down. He eventually calmed down when I gave him two bottles, only afterwards, he tried to let himself outside with the keys, as he found them on a hook on the wall, and it took chasing him through my apartment to get them back." Explained Celeste.

"Did you get them back?" Didi asked.

"Yes, and Tommy was still upset. I sent him to play in the living room with Zack and Dil while I got supper ready, and, I guess Zack put on one of his Sherry Berry DVD's, and that got Tommy to calm down." Said Celeste.

"Sherry Berry? Who's that?" Didi asked.

"Oh my goodness, you've never heard of Sherry Berry?" Celeste asked, surprised.

"No." Didi replied.

"Oh, she's a wonderful singer of children's songs, both, classic songs and songs of her own. I'll have to take you to her concerts this coming summer at Nature Village. I found her award winning DVD, 'Sing a Song of Spring' on sale at a record store back last Christmas, gave it to Zack, and he absolutely loved it, and I'm guessing Tommy and Dil loved it too, as I hardly heard a peep out of them while the DVD was playing." Said Celeste.

"So? Did Tommy remain calm the rest of the night? And how did dinner and bed time go?" Didi asked.

"Well, when brushing Tommy's teeth, I noticed his back mollers are coming in, so gave him some Tylonol along with his vitamins and floride, as he didn't eat much of his dinner either, and he was slightly fussy as I was putting them to bed. He also ran off to bed before the others. I think he really misses you two, and I can only hope tomorrow, things go better. Before giving you a call, I got a hold of Kira, Betty, Laura, and Drew, and looks like I'll be watching all of the kids tomorrow." Said Celeste.

"You didn't by chance, say anything to them did you?" Didi asked.

"About your situation? I told them I was watching Tommy and Dil for a few days while you and Stu took care of a family emergency, but that's as far as I went with it. If they wanted to know more, to contact you directly." Said Celeste.

"Thank you, because we'd appreciate keeping this underwrap until we fully know what's going on." Said Didi.

"Mum's the word, you've got my promise, I will do just that." Said Celeste.

"Thank you." Said Didi.

"Well, I bet you're exhausted. I'll let you go and we'll talk tomorrow." Said Celeste.

"Well, ok then. Goodnight." Said Didi.

"Goodnight." Said Celeste, as they both hung up the phone, and Didi slowly climbed the stairs, barely able to keep her eyes open at this point, as she trudged slowly into her room, changed into her pajamas, and collapsed on the bed next to Stu, who was already sound asleep, and drifted off to sleep herself.

And this, ends chapter 1. So, you may be thinking, when will we get some interractions from the adorable Rugrats? No worries, it's coming in chapter 2, which I'll hopefully, have up later on today, after I release the start of another story I hope to go on ahead and get started at this time, as I'm going to pull the keep two stories going at once scheme again, and see how I do with that.

Author's Note: So, now you know what this story is a parody of. Yes, I won't say who in my real family did this, but back on Independence Day of this year, one of my family members attempted a suicide, and to keep it short and sweet, I ended up being needed to babysit my nephew for a few days while things got resolved. I'll say, while things aren't totally resolved in the real situation, and probably won't be for a while, this story will get completed over the course of this month, and it will hopefully, have a happy ending. It should also be noted, that the events Celeste told to Didi near the end of the chapter, are from her view of the events that took place in my one-shot story, 'My Firstest Exposure to Sherry Berry.' If you haven't checked it out, I strongly recommend you do, as it's told from Tommy's POV, while this was told from Celeste's POV, and you'll see just how differently adults and toddlers experience a day of the same , feel free to follow, favorite, and leave a review, and there'll be more chapters, coming soon.


	2. What's Wrong with Grandpa

Author's Note: Sorry it's taken me a few days to get back to this story, I got busy updating Tales from the Crib: The Super Why Movie, which, all 6 chapters of that story are available in the crossover's section, should you wish to read and review. I've also been quite sleepy the last couple of days too, not feeling all that wonderful, which hasn't helped. No matter, the next chapter of this story will be coming right up, and, I should point out that the Reptar robot briefly presented in this chapter, is owned by Nairobi-harper. Now, let's get on, with the next chapter!

Chapter 2, What's Wrong with Grandpa

The following morning, Tommy awoke early. The previous day, he had more or less, had a miserable day, being worried about his grandpa, as he knew something was wrong, but he wasn't sure what it was. Every single time he tried to escape to go see what was going on, Zack's aunt stopped him, and come the end of the day, the only thing that cheered Tommy up, was his exposure to his first celebrity crush, a green haired beautiful musical performer by the name of Sherry Berry. Her soothing music had put him to sleep that night, allowing him to go to sleep without a worrying thought in his mind, but by the time he awoke the next morning, the room was silent, and Zack and Dil were still asleep in the Reptar racecar bed next to him, causing the erie silence to make Tommy drift back off to the thoughts of his grandpa. If nothing else, he was determined to get to the bottom of this, no matter what, but first, he had to go potty, so the two-year-old toddler quietly got out of bed, and made his way to the bathroom.

Once he was done, he was on his way back to Zack's room, when he overheard aunty Celeste talking on the phone in her bedroom. Curious, he snuck into her room, listening from the doorway.

"So how long do you think Lou will be in the hospital Didi?" Said Celeste into the phone.

She was talking with Didi at this point, who had given her a call that morning, to check in. Of course, Tommy knew that Lou was his grandpa's first name, so when he overheard this piece of news, he instantly knew something was really wrong if he was in the hospital, but what happened exactly? He asked himself this question in his mind, while the silence passed as the person on the other end of the phone, his mommy, said stuff to Celeste. Then, his answer was revealed.

"So if he doesn't have any money, what's Lulu going to do at this time? Is she going to stay at the retirement home or…" Celeste started to say, before Didi broke in with another response.

Tommy gasp. Not having any money would put a person into the hospital? But how? Thinking he had all of the answers to his questions, he made his way back to Zack's room, where he and Dil were still asleep. Tommy crawled back into bed, these questions playing over and over again in his mind, leaving the two-year-old a bit confused, unable to go back to sleep. Surely whenever Zack and Dil awoke for the day, as it was still quite early in the morning, they'd figure something out.

Later on at breakfast, Tommy brought up what he overheard of Celeste's phone conversation to Zack and Dil.

"Guys, I know what's wrong with grandpa." Said Tommy.

"What?" Zack and Dil asked simultaneously.

"He's in the hopcickle." Tommy replied, before he took another bite of Reptar cerial.

"What's wrong?" Dil asked.

"Well, according to Zack's aunty, grandpa's gots no money." Said Tommy, after he swallowed his bite of cerial.

"No money?" Dil asked, confused, making sure he heard his brother correctly.

"Uh huh." Tommy replied.

"I don't quite get it. Why would having no money put a person in the hopcickle?" Zack asked.

"Yeah, we don't gots any money and we're not in the hopcickle." Said Dil.

"Yeah, I don't get it either you guys." Said Tommy.

The three toddlers went on to finish their breakfast in silence, as they sat there, trying to think of a reason for why this could be going on. Little did they know they might receive an answer to their question later on that morning when all of their friends, and to their dismay, Angelica, came over for a playdate.

Later that morning, Kira dropped off Chuckie and Kimi, Betty dropped off Phil and Lil, and Laura dropped off Jesse. They came into Zack's apartment and found the boys playing quietly in the living room, Tommy, looking kind of sad and confused.

"Hi guys!" Said Kimi excitedly, as she burst into the room with excitement.

"What's wrong Tommy?" Chuckie asked, noticing the worried look on Tommy's face.

"Uh, Tommy's sad cuz his grandpa's in the hopcickle." Zack replied.

"Oh no, what happened?" Chuckie asked.

"My grandpa's gots no money." Tommy replied.

"No money, but me and Phillip don't gots any money and we're not in the hopcickle." Said Lil.

"I know guys, I don't get it." Said Tommy, as everybody sat on the living room floor in a circle, silently rolling a ball to one another, unsure of what to do at this point.

An hour later, Drew showed up with Angelica and dropped her off.

"Now you be a good girl and play nicely with the babies." Said Drew.

"Of course daddy, I love playing with the babies." Angelica lied, as she smiled up with her daddy with that innocent smile, before heading off to Zack's living room, where she found the babies rolling Zack's favorite ball around, a red ball with Reptar's picture on it.

"And just what do you think you dumb babies are up to?" Angelica asked, upon barging into the room.

"I really don't appreciate being called dumb, but if you must know, we're trying to figure out how to save Tommy's grandpa." Said Zack.

"Yeah Angelica, grandpa's in the hopcickle cuz he gots no money." Said Tommy.

"Why is that Yucky? Do you know?" Dil asked.

"Firstest of all, you're one-years-old now, so stop calling me Yucky! It's Angelica! Secondly, grandpa's in the hopcickle cuz he's broked." Said Angelica.

The toddlers gasp.

"What do you mean Angelica?" Phil asked.

"Well, when you don't gots any money, you end up broked." Said Angelica.

"I thought when you don't gots any money, you're poor, or at least that's what you toldid us when you played lemonade." Said Tommy.

"That's right, you are poor if you're a growed up kid like me, or even a growed up like my mommy and daddy, but when you're grandpa's age, when you lose all of your money, you getted broked. That's why he had to go to the hopcickle, cuz you break into a bunch of itty bitty pieces, and the only way the doctors can glue grandpa back together, is if you find some money and take it to him." Explained Angelica.

"Well, do you think you could help us find any money Angelica?" Tommy asked.

"I'd love to, but I need to practicize my Cynthia workout song for next week's exercise class at preschool. Good luck babies, cuz this isn't going to be easy." Said Angelica, as she giggled and left the room.

"Look at that Cynthia, those dumb babies will believe anything." Muttered Angelica to herself, staring down at her Cynthia doll, as she stood in a corner of the kitchen, pleased that she tricked the babies into believing something so ridiculous.

Back in Zack's living room, now that the toddlers had a better idea as to what was going on, they all decided to come up with a plan to save grandpa.

"So what are we gonna do now Tommy?" Chuckie asked.

"Well, we've gots to find some money." Tommy replied.

"But where are we gonna find that?" Lil asked.

"I know, lots of times, change falls into the couch cushions and other furniture." Said Zack.

"Huh?" Phil asked, confused.

"I don't think a fresh diapie is what Tommy's grandpa needs, besides, I thought he was potty trained." Said Kimi.

"No, you guys are so silly. Change is another word for coins, like pennies, nickles, quarters and dimes." Explained Zack.

"Oh." Said all of the toddlers in unison.

"So, let's all split up and find some money." Said Zack, as he stood up, and everybody went off to different rooms of Zack's apartment, searching for money.

To everyone's pleasant surprise, they found several coins hidden in various pieces of furniture. Tommy and Zack found change hidden in the sofa, while Phil and Lil found some coins under aunt Celeste's bed, Jesse and Dil rummaged through Celeste's purse, till they found a huge pile of coins in her wallet, and dumped the contents out on to the floor, each taking a pile, and stuffing them into their pockets, or in Dil's case, his diaper, and Kimi and Chuckie found some loose change on the shelves they could reach on some bookcases in the kitchen. Once everybody had gone on their mission to find some money, they all congregated outside in the backyard, to show their findings to one another. Everybody put their pile of money in the middle of the circle.

"Wow guys, this is great!" Said Tommy excitedly.

"But how are we gonna get the money to your grandpa?" Phil asked.

Just then, Zack brought over a yellow bucket, that the babies helped him put all of the money into, and Dil pulled a Reptar toy out of his diaper.

"Wow Dil, I didn't know you brought the Reptar ride in robot, this will work perfect!" Said Tommy.

Jesse just stared at the miniature robot toy in confusion.

"Uh, how is this gonna help? It's smaller than we are." Said Jesse.

"No Jesse, Peter gave me this toy for my birthday. You press this button, and he gets really big, biggerer enough for us to ride in. Then, we can take this money to the hopcickle, and grandpa will be ok." Said Tommy.

"And I've got some glue in case we have to glue his broken body back together." Said Zack, pulling a glue stick out of his diapers.

"Wow Zack, you're the greatest!" Said Kimi with a smile, staring over at Zack, who blushed and smiled back.

"Ok you guys, let's go." Said Tommy, as he placed the miniature toy Reptar robot doll on the grass, and pressed the red button on the side to make it bigger, but nothing happened.

"Uh oh." Said Tommy.

"What's wrong Tommy?" Chuckie asked.

"Something's wrong with my Reptar robot toy, it's not getting biggerer like it's spose to." Said Tommy.

"Maybe it needs new batteries." Suggested Lil.

"Well that's ok, maybe we can just, stay here and drink some apple juice and take a nice long nap." Said Chuckie.

"No Chuckie, we've gots to save my grandpa, and if Reptar needs new batteries, then that's what we're gonna do, come on guys." Said Tommy, as he picked up the toy and the gang all headed for the door to head inside to Zack's apartment, when Angelica walked out.

"And just what do you dumb babies think you're up to now?" Angelica asked.

"Oh, we're gonna get new batteries for my Reptar toy so we can ride it to the hopcickle and give my grandpa all of the moneys we founded so he can go back to the tired home." Said Tommy.

"Oh, and I suppose you babies know where the hopcickle is from here?" Angelica teasingly asked.

"No, but I'm sure we can figure it out, we're not as dumb as you think we are." Said Zack.

Just then, Aunty Celeste called the toddlers in for lunch.

"Lunch time kids." Said Celeste, as all of the babies rushed inside to grab some lunch, as they were quite hungry. While talking with Angelica though, they had set the Reptar toy down on the ground, along with their bucket of money, completely forgetting they left them outside when running inside to grab some lunch.

"Tommy, weren't you gonna get new batteries for your Reptar robot toy?" Kimi whispered to him.

"Oh no! Where did I leave it?" Tommy asked in a panic, noticing he didn't have his toy. Then, he caught a glimpse out the patio door to see it on the ground next to the yellow bucket of money.

"Oh, I lefted it outside, that's ok, we'll fix it after lunch." Said Tommy, as he went on eating, but little did he know he spoke too soon.

Unknown to the toddlers, Angelica had already eaten while they were all playing outside, so she had the backyard to herself, as she took her Cynthia CD player outside, and started practicing her dance for preschool's exercise class. Unfortunately, her dancing was just about as clumbsy as her awful singing. While practicing, she failed to watch where she was stepping, stomping really hard on the Reptar robot toy, smashing it into several broken pieces, while at the same time, knocking over the bucket of money, sending the change to scatter everywhere all over the yard. Upon doing this, Angelica got up, looked around, and realized her mistake.

" _Uh oh._ " Angelica thought to herself, as she glanced around the yard at the mess she had made.

"Hmmm, maybe nobody will notice." Angelica said to herself, as she turned off the Cynthia CD player and snuck back inside, which by this time, all of the toddlers had finished their lunch and were taking their turns to use the potty, those of them who were potty trained at this point, which was everybody except for Zack and Dil.

So she wouldn't be noticed, Angelica snuck into the living room and turned on the TV, switching it to the channel airing The Cynthia Team, getting lost in her favorite TV show. By this time, everybody was ready to head back outside, get Reptar fixed, and head off on their big adventure.

"Come on you guys, let's fix Reptar and go save my grandpa." Said Tommy, as he led the other babies back out to the backyard, only to be met by the unpleasant surprise. Upon walking outside, Tommy stopped dead in his tracks, when he saw the sight of their money scattered to the four corners of the yard, and several splintery pieces of bright green plastic, which was once his beloved Reptar robot toy. Tommy picked up one of the pieces of broken plastic, sank to the ground and started crying.

"What's wrong Tommy?" Phil asked. Then, he saw what Tommy was holding in his hand.

"Uh oh." Phil muttered.

"Now what are we gonna do?" Lil asked.

"I don't know you guys." Replied Tommy through his sobs.

And this, ends chapter 2. So, what are they going to do? We'll find out, in the next chapter.


	3. Interrupted Plans

Chapter 3, Interrupted Plans

Tommy continued to sit there on the ground, crying, unsure as to what to do at this point. Likewise, his crying set off a chain reaction, causing Chuckie, Phil, Lil, Kimi, Jesse, Zack and Dil to all start crying. Of course, their crying was so loud, Angelica, who was still inside, watching her TV show, was rudely interrupted by the babies loud crying, so she turned off the TV and stomped outside into Zack's backyard, annoyed.

"Hey you dumb babies, knock it off! Me and Cynthia are trying to watch our favoritest TV show." Snapped Angelica.

Zack stopped crying and approached the evil blond.

"Maybe you could watch your TV show in peace, if you hadn't broked Tommy's toy." Said Zack, staring into Angelica's face with an angry glare.

"Oh, and I suppose you want me to do something about it?" Angelica asked teasingly.

"Yeah, apologize, and don't ever do it again." Said Zack.

Angelica just smiled evily at the babies. She wasn't sorry for what she did. She found breaking their toys amusing, and didn't feel it necessary to apologize. But she also knew Zack to not tolerate her bullying, even less so than her cousins, so she did the next best thing that came to mind.

"Sorry." Muttered Angelica under her breath, before stomping back inside to Zack's apartment.

"Well, that went well." Said Jesse.

"Guys, saving Tommy's grandpa isn't going to be as easy as we thought." Said Zack.

Tommy just looked up at Zack, nodded and frowned. The toddlers then went around the yard and picked up their coins, putting it back into the bucket. While they picked up the change, they tried to think of other ideas of how to get to the hospital.

"What if we road Spike and Spikfi there?" Phil suggested.

"Uh uh, won't work, cuz we're not at Tommy's house." Said Chuckie.

"Yeah, we're at my partment, remember?" Zack asked.

"Oh yeah." Said Phil.

"Hey, what about the Reptar wagon." Suggested Kimi.

"Uh, Kimi, if we could get to the Reptar wagon, then we could get to Spike." Said Zack.

Kimi just looked at him with disappointment in her eyes. By this time, they had retrieved all of the money that had scattered around the yard, and had it safely back in the yellow bucket.

"Wait a minute guys, that's a great idea. Once me and Dilly go home, we'll take the Reptar wagon to the hopcickle and get this money to my grandpa." Said Tommy.

"But when are you going home Tommy?" Lil asked.

"I don't know." Tommy replied.

"I just hope it's not too late by the time you do." Said Chuckie.

"Me too Chuckie, me too." Said Tommy.

To be sure that Angelica wouldn't find it, they took the yellow bucket of change inside, and hid it under neath Zack's bed. Then, by any wild chance, they could fix the Reptar robot toy, they tried to fix it, with no luck, as it was too broken to be put back together. Disappointed, the babies all sank to the ground, about ready to cry again, upset that their plans were put at a grounding hault all because of their current location at the moment.

Meanwhile, grandpa Lou stopped bleeding, so he was moved to the psych ward at the hospital, where he was seen for treatment. He met with a therapist where he told the lady what was going on. Of course, he's the type of guy who will deny he has a problem, so it took a bit of prying to get it out of him. Once he admitted to the therapist about his gambling issue, she gave him a suggestion.

"What you need to do, is attend Gambler's Anonomous." Suggested the therapist.

"Huh? I don't need no conflabbed gambler's anonomous I'll be fine." Griped Lou.

"Now see? There you go again, denying you have a problem. There's nothing wrong with getting help, and you seriously need help." Said the therapist.

Lou just shook his head at the therapist's response. He didn't like this one bit, but from what he could tell, there wasn't going to be an easy way out of it. He also saw some psychiotrists, who put him on some medicines for his depression and some Melatonin to help him sleep better at night. They noticed him falling asleep constantly in front of the television at free session time, and the staff thought, if he was given regular doses of this sleep aid, maybe it would help him get his sleeping patterns under control, being less likely to sneak out late at night and gamble post getting out of the hospital, not to mention, after the adults and Lulu attending a group family session, and Stu and Didi bringing up how he would always fall asleep while watching his grandkids, perhaps this would also lessen those tendencies as well. Lou was very stubborn, always putting up a fuss at med time, but the staff weren't having it. They didn't like pinning down the seventy-seven-year-old man like he were a five-year-old, but some days, they had no choice.

Once Lulu, Stu, Didi, Drew and Charlotte saw that the staff at the hospital had everything under control, they went on with plan b, getting all weapons of mass destruction hidden from Lou in the retirement home, and from any of his friends in the Wombat group who might have any connections with his behavior as of late. Seeing that Lou was in the war, it was no surprise he had guns and swords at the retirement home. They had them locked away immediately into a storage facility, and only Drew and Charlotte kept the keys, since Lou spent less time with them than he did with Stu and Didi, he'd have less of an opportunity to get his hands on such dangerous materials. Then, they spoke with a nurse at the retirement home, who would ensure that Lou took the meds prescribed, not overdosing, or forgetting to take them. Finally, while poor Lou was seeking treatment, they saw that this wasn't very easy for Lulu either. She was finding it hard to sleep at night, and she missed Lou terribly. One night while everybody was out for dinner, is when Didi brought up her suggestion.

"Why don't you come stay with us for a few days, while you get things straightened out. I'm gonna be picking up Tommy and Dil from the Wehrenberg's tomorrow." Said Didi.

"That sounds like a great idea Didi, I'd love to spend some time with my grandkids." Said Lulu with a smile.

Over the few days they were seeing to getting Lou under control in the hospital, and the retirement home leathel free, the toddlers weren't having an easy time of it either. Poor Tommy was worried and depressed, feeling trapped and helpless, not wanting to eat or play, only wanting to talk to Rosie or watch Sherry Berry, and Sherry Berry is what won, since Peter hadn't returned from Quebec yet. And Zack, while he loved having Tommy and Dil stay at his place, he sort of wanted his own bed back to himself. Tommy's lack of cooperation was starting to concern Celeste, and she was about to consider taking Tommy to the doctor's, when Didi gave her a call that made her nearly jump for joy.

"Hi Didi, how goes things?" Asked Celeste into the phone one evening during dinner, the third evening she was watching after her boys.

"Well, they could be better, but my father-in-law is finally getting treatment, and I think we can safely say, we're ready to pick up the boys. I'll be by tomorrow at lunchtime to pick them up." Said Didi.

"Oh, they'll be so happy to see you. I know they miss you very much, Tommy especially." Said Celeste.

She and Didi talked for a few more minutes, before she hung up the phone, and returned to the dinner table, where Zack and Dil were nearly finished with their sweet potatoes, oranges and pineapple, while Tommy was still sitting there, staring down at his bowl, frowning and picking at his food.

"Good news Tommy and Dil, I just spoke with your mommy, and you get to go home tomorrow." Said Celeste, as she sat back down at the table to finish her spaghetti and meatballs.

Dil clapped and giggled at this news, while Tommy let out a small smile, and what seemed like the first time in days, he actually ate his dinner. Finally, he was going home, where he had some means of transportation to sneak off and rescue his grandpa, or would he?

The next day, as promised, Didi came by and picked up the boys at lunchtime. Tommy and Dil took the bucket of change with them, and they headed for home, where they found their daddy and their grandma Lulu there. Finding grandma there, took them by surprise.

"Tommy, why is Lulu here?" Dil asked.

"I don't know Dilly." Replied Tommy.

"Thanks for letting me stay with you." Said Lulu.

"You can stay for as long as you'd like." Replied Didi with a smile.

Later, the Devilles, Finsters, Barrows and Wehrenbergs all came over for dinner, at which time, Stu, Didi and Lulu filled them in on what had all taken place with Lou over the last week. This left the other adults in utter shock at his behavior, Chaz, who had known the guy since he was quite little, more or less, speechless. While the adults were conversating at the kitchen table, all of the toddlers were in the playpen, trying to figure out why Lulu was there, not effected by the loss of money.

"There's something I don't get you guys." Said Tommy, as he paced around the playpen.

"What?" Phil and Lil asked simultaneously.

"If my grandpa gotted broked and ended up in the hopcickle, then, how come Lulu, who also lived at the tired home, made it out ok?" Tommy asked.

"Well, member what Zack said about what change was? Pennies, nickles, quarters and dimes?" Chuckie asked.

"Uh huh?" Tommy replied.

"And member that time the pirate light went out at your house, and a big pirate came to steel your daddy's pennies?" Chuckie asked.

"Oh wow, I had forgotted all about that." Said Tommy.

"Well, maybe the pirate light went out at the tired home, and a big scary pirate came along, and stole their treasure." Suggested Chuckie.

"The pirate light?" Kimi asked, unsure of what they were talking about.

"I never heard of such a light either, but from my understanding, I'm guessing it's a light to keep pirates away, am I right Tommy?" Zack asked.

Tommy nodded before Zack continued.

"Well, I think I see where Chuckie was trying to go with this. I bet the pirate stole all of the tired home's money, and I seem to recall Tommy's grandpa always talking about fighting in the war and stuff. Maybe, he tried to fight the pirate and losted, resulting in him getting broked so now he's in the hopcickle, and the only way anybody gets to go home, is if Lou hands over some money to the pirate, in exchange for their home." Said Zack.

"Wow Zack, how did you figure all of this out?" Jesse asked.

"Well, I am a pretty smart baby, how else would Tommy's grandma be here, while his grandpa was in the hopcickle?" Zack asked.

"And I did hear mommy say that grandma could stay here for as long as she liked. Yeah, that proves she might be here forever, if we don't do something." Added Dil.

"And now it's up to us to get him out of there." Said Tommy, as he peered out the window to see the sun hadn't quite set in the sky, catching a glimpse of his Reptar wagon out in the yard.

"Come on you guys, let's go." Said Tommy, as he unlatched his playpen with his screwdriver, and he, Dil, Jesse, Phil, Lil, Kimi, Chuckie and Zack all headed outside to the backyard, about ready to take off.

Meanwhile, the adults were talking in the kitchen about various things, the situation with Lou, what Lulu was planning to do while she took a break from being at the retirement home to recover and deal with the situation of her husband, and so on, when Kira struck up an interesting suggestion.

"You know, maybe a weekend away at the beach would do you all some good." Suggested Kira.

"Oh yes, the salty sea air, the sand, the sun, leaves me sunburned but it is quite relaxing." Added Howard.

"That's a wonderful idea." Said Didi.

"Yeah, the beach does sound nice." Said Stu.

"And we can rent a beach house there, oh just like we did last summer." Said Lulu.

"Oh yeah, say didn't we do that right before Tommy got the Gray Plague?" Stu asked.

"Well not to worry, this time, our trip should go much smoother, as I haven't heard of any outbreaks of anymore diseases." Said Didi.

"Well have a nice time, we'd love to come, but none of us can take off work at this time." Said Betty.

"Oh that's ok, I'd kind of like a few days to bond with my boys, I did miss them, but thank you Celeste for watching them while we got things under control." Said Didi, turning to Celeste, who was nearly finished with her ice tea.

"It's no problem Didi, I'm happy to help you out at anytime." Said Celeste.

Outside, everybody had piled into the Reptar wagon with the bucket of change, about ready to take off for the hospital, when all of the adults walked outside to gather up their kids.

"Come on Jesse, it's time to go sweetheart." Said Laura, as she came over to the wagon and picked up her son.

"Chuckie, Kimi, time to go." Called Chaz from the backdoor.

"Uh, I've gots to go Tommy." Said Chuckie.

"Bye Chuckie." Said Tommy disappointingly, as he didn't really want his best friend to leave, but looked like he had no choice in the matter.

"Come on pups, time to go." Said Betty, as she scooped up Phil and Lil in each arm, and headed back through the backyard through Stu and Didi's house, walking out the front.

"Zachary, let's go." Called Celeste from the backdoor, as Zack hopped down from the wagon, running to his aunt.

This left Tommy and Dil by themselves.

"Tommy? Are we going by ourselves?" Dil asked, but before Tommy could respond, Didi walked up to the Reptar wagon, where she scooped up her boys.

"Come on kids, let's give you a bath, it's getting close to bedtime. Tomorrow we're heading to the beach! Oh won't that be fun?" Didi asked, as she carried Tommy and Dil upstairs, where Lulu ran their bath.

Once again, their plans were spoiled, and this time, it would be even harder to escape to go rescue grandpa from the hospital, because they were going to the beach. Or would they find another way to accomplish their task.

And what would happen at the beach? Stay tuned for the next chapter, to find out!


	4. A Terrible Trip to the Beach

Chapter 4, A Terrible Trip to the Beach

Upon receiving the news that they would be going to the beach, Dil got really excited. While he had been to the beach once before, right before his older brother came down with The Gray Plague, but at that time, he still wasn't really moving all that well on his own, making that trip not a lot of fun for him. Now that he was walking and able to do more, he knew the beach would be lots of fun! Unfortunately, while Tommy would ordinarily find a beach adventure to be exciting, he couldn't get his grandpa off of his mind, and all he wanted to do, was find a way to get to the hospital. As they were getting ready to go to sleep, Dil lying awake in his crib and Tommy across the room in his big boy bed, Dil struck up a conversation.

"Hey Tommy, you looking forward to going to the beach tomorrow?" Dil asked.

"No." Tommy replied.

"What do you mean, no?" Dil asked.

"Dilly, grandpa's in trouble, and I don't know about you, but I wanna save him and make everything ok." Said Tommy with a determined look in his eyes.

"But Tommy…" Dil started to say before his older brother cut him off.

"Think about it Dil, we can always go to the beach, but if we don't save grandpa, we're gonna lose him forever. And I'm not ready to lose him forever." Said Tommy, as he proceeded to roll over and go to sleep.

"And how are you gonna get mommy, daddy, and grandma Lulu to ditch our trip to the beach?" Dil asked.

"Don't worry Dilly, I've gots an idea." Said Tommy, as he yawned to go to sleep.

Disappointed that his older brother would ruin a trip he was really looking forward to, Dil decided this was probably a time to keep his mouth shut, before he got into a heated argument with his brother, as the one-year-old rolled over to go to sleep, hoping deep down his older brother's plan would fail.

The following day, everybody awoke, packed up the car, and before they knew it, Stu, Didi, Lulu, Tommy and Dil were on the road to the beach. No sooner were they on the turnpike that would take them on the three hour drive to the beach, when Tommy started crying at the top of his lungs.

"What's the matter with Tommy Deed?" Stu asked, shouting at the top of his lungs, trying to keep an eye on the road as he was driving.

"I don't know dear, he seemed fine when we left." Didi replied.

"Hey, you think maybe he needs to use the potty?" Stu suggested.

"That's probably it. See a rest stop anywhere?" Didi asked.

As they continued driving along, they started looking for signs for the nearest rest stop plazzas. Tommy continued to cry and scream, hoping they'd just turn around, but Dil was thinking otherwise. No matter, he stayed out of it, as he didn't wish to contribute to this plan, hoping they'd end up at the beach after all. Finally, Lulu spotted a rest stop up ahead.

"Look everybody, the Grape Vine Plazza. A good spot to stop." Said Lulu.

Upon seeing the sign, Stu rounded the corner into the parking lot, at which time, Tommy stopped crying, bringing peace back to the car.

"See Deed? I told you he needed to go." Said Stu, as he turned off the car and stepped out into the parking lot.

"I hope you're right." Said Didi.

While inside the restroom, Tommy used the potty, while Didi changed Dil's diapers. Of course, because Dil had barely wet his diapers, he didn't think he needed a diaper change, so he was very squirmy and uncooperative while Didi tried to change him, but as they were walking into the plaza, they saw a sign that said this would be the last plaza for another one-hundred miles, so decided it would better to be safe than sorry.

"Hold still Dil!" Cried Didi, as she struggled to get him to cooperate on the small changing table in the restroom, as he continued to giggle and kick his feet, nearly knocking Didi's glasses off.

While this was all going on, Tommy had finished up at the potty, so naturally, the two-year-old toddler went off to explore when he saw nobody was watching him. He walked out of the restroom to find himself, not at the hospital where he was hoping to end up, but rather, in a small convenient store, complete with rows of food and other assorted items people might stop off for while traveling. Disappointed, the two-year-old did something he doesn't do too often. He threw himself down on the ground in the middle of the store and had a tantrum. By this time, Didi had finally gotten a fresh diaper on to Dil, thanks to Lulu coming along and pinning his head and arms down to the other end of the changing table while Didi got him changed. Once that was done, they walked out into the convenient store to find Tommy lying in the candy isle, throwing a tantrum. Didi handed Dil over to Lulu, while she saw to her oldest son, as she picked up the screaming kicking child.

"Let's go everyone." Snapped Didi, looking embarrassed, as she carried the kicking screaming Tommy out to the car, with Lulu carrying Dil, following close behind.

At that instant, Stu came out of the men's room, noticing everybody was heading back to the car. He so wanted to get a coffee for the road, but judging by what he saw peering out the doors of the shop, and the look on Didi's face, as she turned for a brief moment to see Stu coming out of the men's room, he decided to not hold them up, as his father being in the hospital was enough, he didn't need his wife irritated with him for holding them up. So he hurried out to the car where Lulu and Didi were getting the boys buckled into their car seats, of course, Tommy was being extremely difficult in being strapped in.

"Now Tommy sweetie, you need to get buckled in, it's the safe way to ride in the car." Said Didi above his screaming, but Tommy wasn't having it. He was mad about going on this beach trip, and would do anything to ruin it to get them turned around so they'd head back home, where he could take off for the hospital and rescue his grandpa.

After several minutes of struggling, Didi finally got the screaming terrorizing two-year-old strapped into his car seat, and the exhausted mother, went around to the passenger side of the car, got into the front seat, and collapsed with exhaustion, letting out a huge sigh.

"Something wrong Deed?" Stu asked, as he started up the car and pulled out of the parking lot.

"The terrible two's." Didi muttered.

"Isn't there something in Lipschitz about that?" Stu asked.

"Of course, why didn't I think of that." Said Didi, as she reached down into her beach bag, and pulled out her Lipschitz book and started flipping through the pages.

By this time, Dil was looking out the window, sucking on his thumb, a bit disgusted at his brother's behavior, as he knew where he was trying to go with this tantrum routine, but it surely wasn't working. Tommy, on the opposite side of the car, was only wimpering by this point, as he was at a loss at to what to do. Then, he remembered that time when his grandpa was left behind at the rest stop, and he and Chuckie had gotten his parents to stop after throwing a bunch of things out the car window. Unfortunately, the windows were rolled up, and the child protection feature was turned on, so pressing the roll down button on his side of the car did absolutely nothing, and there was nothing in his reach that he could easily throw out of the car, even if he could get the window open. Then, he caught a glimpse of Lulu, who was seated between him and his brother in the back seat.

" _I miss Lou. If only he could have come with us._ " Lulu thought to herself, as she sighed and a huge frown came across her face, as Stu continued to drive down the turnpike for what felt like forever to the young toddlers riding on either side of her.

By this time, Dil was growing impatient, so he started wailing at the top of his lungs.

"It's ok Dil sweetie, we'll be there soon." Said Lulu, as she put a hand on Dil's shoulder, trying to calm down her youngest grandson, but it was no use, the young one kept on crying.

"You did change him, right Deed?" Stu asked, loud enough so his wife would hear.

"Yeah I did, and he doesn't smell like he needs a change." Didi replied.

By this time, even Tommy couldn't take it anymore, and joined in along with Dil. The parents were getting headaches, unsure if they could take much more of their screaming boys. Then, Didi remembered something. The previous night, before Celeste and Zachary left, Celeste let Didi borrow one of their Sherry Berry CD's for the trip, as she found Sherry Berry seem to always cheer up Tommy while they were watching the boys for those few days, and it would be a great way to introduce the rest of the family to her music. Didi pulled the CD out of her purse and saw to loading it into the CD player in the car.

"What's that Deed?" Stu asked.

"The Sherry Berry CD that Celeste let me borrow. I hope this works." Said Didi, as she loaded the CD into the player, and before they knew it, the car filled with the sweet soothing sound of Sherry Berry's voice.

The first song on the disc was a beautiful song about ringing bells.

 _Ding dong ding,_

 _Hear them ring,_

 _Pull my string and I will sing._

 _Ding dong ding,_

 _Ding dong ding,_

 _Ding dong ding dong ding._

As her soothing voice filled the car's speakers, it was as if a wave of peace filled the Pickles family. Dil and Tommy stopped crying immediately, as Dil smiled, looking out the window, eager to get to their final destination, while Tommy, was sent off into a daydream, where Sherry Berry was floating on a cloud and smiling down at him.

"It's ok Tommy, just listen to my voice, and everything will be ok." Said Sherry Berry with a soothing smile, as she cradled the two-year-old toddler in her arms, nearly rocking Tommy to sleep.

Back in the car, while Stu was finally able to focus on the road, now that his boys were no longer screaming at the top of their lungs, Didi leaned back in her seat and listened to the music, while Lulu was instantly put to sleep, grabbing a nap on this long drive.

Two hours later, after the CD played through at least another three times, they finally made it to the beach, just as the sticks song came on the CD.

 _Ba dum, dum dum dum dum,_

 _Ba dum, dum dum dum dum,_

 _Ba dum, dum dum dum dum,_

 _Hey hey what do you say? Let's all hit our sticks today!_

The song continued to carry on like that in Sherry Berry's voice, as Tommy was now imagining himself leading a marching band, hitting the drums, with Reptar stomping to bring up the rear of the line, and Sherry Berry singing at the front of the line close to Tommy's drumming, just as the car pulled into the parking lot at the beach, turning off, ending the music, in turn, causing Tommy's imaginary march to end, bringing him back to the cruel reality of life that seem to be swept upon the poor two-year-old as of late. Lulu and Dil were also brought out of their sleep and day dreams, as Stu turned off the car.

"Where are we?" Lulu asked, as she was startled awake.

"We're here everyone." Said Stu.

Dil looked out his window, and smiled at the endless miles of sand.

"Tommy Tommy! We made it! Lookie lookie! It's the biggerest sandbox in the whole wild world! Don't it look like fun?" Dil asked his brother, trying to reach for him, only he couldn't reach far enough, so he kept poking Lulu in the stomach instead.

"Oh Dilly calm down you little bean, we'll be out on the sand in a minute." Said Lulu, as she moved Dil's hands off of her stomach, looking over at her overly excited one-year-old grandson.

Tommy, who had been off in his own little imaginary daydream with Sherry Berry, was brought back to reality at this point upon hearing Dil's exciting cries, which, while Lulu couldn't understand a word Dil was saying, she could tell from the look on his face that he was excited to be there. Tommy, on the other hand, was not pleased. Once again, his plans to ruin the beach trip failed, and because he had no clue where the hospital was from here, there was no way he'd find it now. At this point, while deep down, he felt worried and miserable, he didn't want to ruin the trip for his little brother, since this would be his first time to really experience the beach, so he let out a huge sigh and decided to suck it up and have a good time. Eventually, they'd be going home. Little did he know how soon they'd be turning around.

Once they had the car unpacked, they went and rented their beachhouse for the next three days, and got all settled in. It was a small, little wooden house out on the beach, a one story house with a small kitchen, living room complete with Netflicks on the television, along with deli fixings in the fridge, and snacks, provided by the people running the beachhouse facility rental company, and it was eclipsed with two bedrooms. There was a bedroom with a double bed where Stu and Didi slept, another with a crib for Tommy and Dil, this would mean Tommy would have to regress for a couple of days, but unknown to Stu and Didi, thanks to his screwdriver, he had a way to escape to the potty in the middle of the night, found in the bathroom down the hall, which was eclipsed with a toilet, sink, and a combination bathtub shower. The kitchen was eclipsed with a small table that seated four people comfortably, and two highchairs, since they said they'd be bringing two small toddlers with them on this trip, and in the small living room, the sofa pulled out into a bed, where Lulu decided she'd sleep the next couple of nights, even though sofa beds weren't her thing, she figured she'd let her stepson and daughter-in-law have the nicer bed, since they went through the trouble to bring everybody on this trip.

Once they had everything settled, Didi went off to text Celeste, letting her know that the Sherry Berry CD she let them borrow was a huge help on the car ride down to the beach, and to thank her for letting them borrow it, when she received a phone call. Didi went off to take the call, while Stu and Lulu helped Tommy and Dil into their bathing suits, they got into their bathing suits, and all headed out to the beach. Once out on the sand, Stu and Lulu set up a couple of beach chairs they had brought with them, and started chatting, more or less, leaving Tommy and Dil to their own devices as usual. Thinking at first, maybe there'd be a way off the beach and back to the hospital, Tommy took a look around, but all he could see was miles and miles of endless sand, while in another direction, he saw the ocean, which he knew wasn't the right way, so he let out a huge sigh and decided to put grandpa out of his mind, while he helped Dil have a fun time on his first real beach trip.

"So what are we gonna do firstest Tommy?" Dil asked his older brother.

Tommy looked down in the sand, to find a pretty seashell. He picked it up and showed Dil.

"This is a seashell Dilly, they're like treasures that get washed up on the beach from the ocean. You can go around and collect them, like you were a pirate." Said Tommy.

"Oooh, that sounds like fun!" Said Dil with a smile, as the two boys picked up their buckets, and went around the beach, collecting seashells.

Dil was especially fascinated to find any that looked in particularly shiny when you held them up to the sunlight. Tommy too was having a good time, until he caught a glimpse of a fisherman out on the ocean. He stopped dead in his tracks, as the fisherman reminded him of grandpa, and how he always loved to do that. Seeing this, he slumped down on the sand, dropping his bucket of seashells, a sad expression upon his face.

"Are you ok Tommy?" Dil asked, as he came up behind his older brother, and put a hand on Tommy's shoulder.

Tommy looked up and turned towards his brother.

"Yeah, I'm fine Dilly, I was just…" Tommy started to say, before Dil finished off his sentence.

"Thinking about grandpa again?" Dil asked, finishing Tommy's sentence.

"Uh huh." Tommy replied.

"I know, let's play rolly ball with the beach ball that Lulu gave me to play with." Suggested Dil, as he held up a huge beach ball that was white with green and red stripes.

While Tommy was still busy collecting seashells and staring out at the fisherman, Dil had taken his bucket of seashells over to Lulu and Stu, who gave him a beach ball to play with. Tommy put his bucket of seashells over to the side, as he sat down in the sand, ready for Dil to roll the beach ball to him.

"I'm ready Dilly." Said Tommy, as Dil sat across from him, and threw the ball at Tommy's head, giggling as it bounced off.

"Dil, I thought we were playing rolly ball, not throw the ball." Said Tommy irritably.

"Oh, sorry." Said Dil.

Tommy went and picked up the ball where it landed, and rolled it to his brother.

"Now, roll it back to me Dilly." Said Tommy.

Dil had more fun throwing it, but he didn't wanna upset his brother anymore, so he settled for rolling it back to him, playing the game the way it was meant to be played. The two brothers rolled the beach ball to one another in silence for several minutes, while Tommy was trying to think up another idea to get the family to leave the beach, so he could go rescue his grandpa. He was about to speak up, when Dil beat him to it.

"Uh, Tommy?" Dil said.

"Yeah Dilly?" Tommy replied.

"I don't feel so good." Said Dil.

"Wait a minute Dil, that's a great idea." Said Tommy with a smile.

"What's so great about me not feeling good Tommy?" Dil asked.

"If you make everyone think you're sick, then that means we'll have to go home, and we can go to the hopcickle and rescue grandpa! Good going!" Said Tommy.

But Tommy didn't realize at first that Dil wasn't pretending. He really, didn't feel good.

"Uh, Tommy, I'm not making it up, I really don't feel good." Said Dil, who's face was starting to turn a pale green color, as he got up from where he was sitting in the sand, and walked over to Tommy, who was now standing up.

Tommy caught a glimpse of his younger brother's face, along with his hands on his stomach, and realized he wasn't pretending after all.

"Oh no! Dilly!" Tommy cried, but it was too late. Dil, now with his face buried in Tommy's stomach, threw up all over Tommy, making ahuge mess.

The two boys sank into the sand and started crying. This in turn got Lulu, Stu and Didi's attention, who were all off to the side, talking and drinking smoothies at this point, when they overheard their boys crying. They went over to investigate, when Didi spotted the vomit everywhere.

"Oh dear Stu, it looks like one of the kids is sick." Said Didi.

"Who?" Stu asked.

"It's hard to tell. I'd better take the boys inside and take their temperature, as they're both covered." Said Didi, as she cleaned them up with a beach towel and some wipes, then carried her two boys back inside the beachhouse to check them out.

"I believe it was Dil who threw up." Lulu whispered to Stu, as they followed Didi and the boys inside.

Once inside, Didi examined her boys closer, and soon discovered it was Dil, as he had a fever of one-hundred-and-one.

"Oh dear, it looks like we're gonna have to head home early Stu, Dil appears to be sick." Said Didi.

"Can't we stay at least for one night? I'm exhausted!" Cried Stu.

"I suppose so. Besides, it might be best if we don't try to travel if Dil is throwing up." Said Didi.

She had the boys take a bath, then got Dil changed into some fresh diapers and into his pajamas, putting him down to bed early.

" _So much for going to that seafood restaurant close by for dinner tonight._ " Didi thought to herself, as she lay her youngest sick child down in the crib.

"You rest here sweetie, and mommy will be back to check on you later." Said Didi, as she led Tommy out of the room and closed the door.

Now Tommy sat down outside the door, feeling bad that Dil was sick. He reached up and grabbed the doorknob, turning it, opening the door a crack. Noticing that Dil was sound asleep, Tommy quietly crawled over next to the crib, where he sat on the floor, as he sat there, waiting for his brother to wake up, hoping he'd feel better once he had a nice long nap.

Meanwhile, out in the kitchen, the adults prepared some sandwiches to eat for dinner, as they all sat down at the table to grab a bite to eat.

"So, what's going on?" Stu asked.

"Well Dil is sick. I put him to bed, and I have the baby monitor set up so we can hear if he cries or throws up or something." Didi replied.

"When we got here Deed, who called your phone?" Lulu asked.

"I'm glad you asked. To my shocking surprise, my mother called.

"Minca? But she never calls your cell phone." Said Stu.

"I know, and that's not the only thing. You ready for this? Pop called them today." Said Didi.

Lulu and Stu gasp.

"Lou?" Lulu asked in surprise.

"I know. He and my father can't get along for two minutes. Turns out according to my mother, Lou called her to tell her happy birthday." Said Didi.

"Is today your mother's birthday?" Lulu asked.

"Well according to my mother it isn't. Though even I don't know when my parents actual birthdays are. They were always very discrete about that type of thing when Ben and I were growing up." Said Didi, as she took another bite of her sandwich.

"Did she say anything else? About Lou?" Lulu asked.

"Well, the only other thing she told me was that Lou complained he was having a bad day, something about something with his meds. As soon as I got off the phone with my mother, I called up the hospital, but they couldn't give me any information over the phone. I was about to have you give them a call, since you're his wife, I'm assuming they can talk to you, but then we got caught up in drinking smoothies and then the boys got sick and, oh, this is getting so complicated!" Didi said, as she broke down into tears.

Upon hearing his mommy cry, Tommy, still sitting next to Dil's crib, as he was still asleep, rushed out into the kitchen, to find the adults eating dinner, and his mommy crying. He rushed over to his mommy and gave her a hug. Didi stopped crying and looked down to find Tommy wrapping his tiny little arms around her waste.

"Oh, sweetie! A hug, just when I need it most." Said Didi, as she picked up Tommy, and put him in her lap, as he reached up and gave her a hug, snuggling with Didi for a little while.

"Mind if I borrow your phone to give Lou a call?" Lulu asked.

"Not at all, it's currently on the nightstand in our bedroom." Didi replied, as Lulu excused herself from the table and went off into the bedroom with the double bed to make the phone call.

At that moment, Didi heard a grumble come from Tommy's stomach, so fixed him some dinner. Luckily, she thought to pack some baby food favorites for him and Dil to eat on this trip, so gave him some spaghetti and sweet potatoes, figuring he'd eat that, now that she knew that he wasn't the one who was sick.

Sure enough, Tommy ate every last bite, as he was hungry at this point, while Stu and Didi finished their sandwiches, but Tommy couldn't help but realize that something else must be wrong with his grandpa, if his mommy was crying again, and he only hoped that Dil would get well soon, so they could head home, and rescue him, before it was too late.

No sooner were they finished with their dinner, when Lulu returned to the table, a worried expression on her face.

"What's going on Lulu?" Stu asked.

"Well, I know what's going on with Lou, and why he's having such a bad day." Said Lulu.

"Why?" Stu and Didi asked simultaneously.

"Well, the hospital had prescribed two medications for Lou, an antidepressant and an SRI. Well the antidepressant was too expensive, so Lou stopped taking it, and they contacted his physician, and I tell you, it's no wonder Lou thinks doctors are a bunch of flee bag know it all's at points, even I'm a bit irritated with the doctors at this moment." Said Lulu.

"What's going on?" Didi asked.

"Well, does the physician talk with the psychiatrist? No! Instead, they prescribe a second SRI, and now, Lou's a nervous wreck." Said Lulu.

"How can that be?" Stu asked, a bit confused as to what was going on.

"Stu, according to what I've been learning in my psychology classes at college, SRI's cause anxiety, so putting him on two SRI's is only going to double the anxiety. Oh, no wonder he's such a mess." Said Didi worriedly.

"Maybe it would be best if we head back home tomorrow, so Lulu can go check on things." Said Stu.

"I'd like that." Said Lulu.

"Well, we'll have to see how Dil is doing in the morning, but, I suppose so." Said Didi with a sigh, as she took another sip of her water.

Tommy didn't quite understand everything that was going on, all he could get out of it though, was that his grandpa was in even more trouble, and he too was hoping they'd head home the next day.

No sooner had Tommy thought this, when Dil let out a cry over the baby monitor.

"Poopy! Bad poopy!" Tommy heard Dil cry. He climbed out of his highchair at the table, and went off to the bedroom they were sharing to check on Dil. He walked into their bedroom at the beachhouse, to be met by a very strong odor.

"Dil? Are you ok?" Tommy asked, rushing over to the crib where Dil was hanging on to the bars, tears streaming down his face.

"No, it's really bad!" Dil cried.

Tommy tossed him the screwdriver through the bars.

"Now just climb out of the crib like I showed you after you started walking, and let me help you." Said Tommy.

Dil did as he was instructed and got down on the floor.

"Now hold still Dilly." Said Tommy, as he undid Dil's diaper, to be met with a diaper full of diarrhea.

"Eeewww, you're right Dilly, this is really bad poopy." Said Tommy.

"What's wrong with me?" Dil asked, worried.

"Dilly, I didn't wanna have to tell you this, but you've gots diary." Said Tommy.

"What's that?" Dil asked.

"It's really smelly liquid poop, and it goes everywhere. Now don't move, I've gots to find you a clean diapie." Said Tommy, as he got up and searched through their suitcase and the diaper bags, frantically looking for the diaper powder and the diaper.

Noticing that Tommy was taking a while, though he felt crummy, Dil decided to get up and help him look. Unfortunately, he had another diarrhea episode on the carpet while searching the room along with Tommy, making a huge mess.

"I've got it." Said Tommy, when he looked up from Dil's diaper bag, holding the diaper and powder, to find Dil rummaging through another overnight bag, then looking all over the room to find it covered in diarrhea.

"Dil! No!" Tommy cried.

"What?" Dil asked, then he looked around to see what he had done.

"Oooops." Muttered Dil, as he slumped down on the carpet on top of one of the diarrhea spots, crying.

"No Dil, don't cry." Said Tommy, but it was too late, Dil was completely covered in diarrhea, and when Tommy went over to comfort him, he too stepped in some, spreading it everywhere.

By this time, Didi walked into the room.

"AAAHHH!" Screamed Didi at the sight of the mess.

"What's going on?" Stu asked, but no sooner was he through the door, when he took a wiff of the strong diarrhea smell, and passed out on the floor.

"Oh my goodness!" Cried Lulu, when she approached her passed out stepson on the floor in the small hallway, then came in to help Didi clean up the mess.

Two hours later, well after it was dark outside, the adults had the room and the boys cleaned up, Dil in an oversized night shirt that Lulu had packed, but wasn't planning on wearing, since his pajamas were covered in diarrhea, and there was no washing machine at this beachhouse, and they finally had the two boys tucked into bed, when a thunder storm started outside. This caused Dil to wake up crying, too scared to go back to sleep.

"Now Dilly, don't cry, the storm can't hurt you, we're inside." Said Tommy, but it was no use, Dil continued to cry, as Tommy hugged his sick, scared little brother, trying to help him calm down.

"Tommy, can you make Sherry Berry appear? She always makes you calm down." Dil pleaded through his sobs.

Tommy thought for a minute, as while he had heard plenty of Sherry Berry songs over the past few days, he wasn't sure if he knew one well enough to sing to Dil. Then, he thought of the perfect song. He sat there, still hugging Dil, and started to sing him the pretty bell song.

 _Ding dong ding,_

 _Hear me ring,_

 _Pull my string and I will sing._

 _Ding dong ding,_

 _Ding dong ding,_

 _Ding dong ding dong ding._

After singing the last of the ding dong dings of the song, the storm outside was starting to calm down, disappearing, moving away from the beach, and Dil let out a huge yawn, as he finally closed his eyes and went to sleep. Tommy then knew it was the perfect opportunity for him to fall asleep too, so he scooted to his end of the crib, and made himself comfortable, as he too closed his eyes, and drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, the Pickles were awakened by a phone call from the hospital on Didi's cell. It just so happens that things weren't going well, and that they needed to see Lulu right away for a family group session. Didi went and got everybody awake.

"What about breakfast Deed?" Stu asked.

"Here." Said Didi, as she pulled out a breakfast bar from her bag, and gave it to him.

She then got the boys up, glad that Dil didn't have another diarrhea incident during the night, but she could tell he still had a fever. She put some ginger ale into a bottle and fed it to him, hoping and praying it would stay down, and they wouldn't have a mess to clean up in the car. Once he had finished his bottle, they packed up the car and left the beach, hoping to get Lulu back to town by the afternoon so she could attend the meeting at the hospital.

While in the car, Dil turned to his older brother.

"I'm thirsty." Dil cried.

"Uh, ok, hold on Dilly." Said Tommy, as he reached down to the diaper bag at his feet, and pulled out a bottle that had some milk in it, that was intended for him, but he'd give it to Dil if it helped him to feel better. He fed Dil the bottle, and at first, he seemed to really like it, only as a result of feeding him milk, it had the opposite effect on Dil, and not in a good way.

Dil threw up as a result of the milk not agreeing with him, and of all things, it happened at one point while they were in the middle of nowhere on the turnpike. So they pulled over into the breakdown lane, and saw to getting him cleaned up. Once they got Dil cleaned up, they got back on to the road and headed for home, and while Tommy was glad they were heading for home, he felt worried.

" _First my grandpa gets broked, now Dilly's sick. Can it get any worser? Not if I can help it. When we get home, I'm gonna fix everything that's gone wrong, and nothing's gonna stop me._ " Tommy thought to himself, as he peered out the window on his side of the car, as they headed off of the turnpike taking the exit that would lead them back into Yucaipa, California.

And this, ends chapter 4. So, what will happen next? Stay tuned for chapter 5 to find out!


	5. Ill Dil Effects

Author's Note: For starters, if you're confused, go back and read chapter 4, as the real chapter 4 has been posted, replacing the author's note that inhabited it on Tuesday of this week. Secondly, I'd like to say that I was highly inspired by the movie, 'Inside Out,' and an episode of 'Full House' for parts of this upcoming chapter, and you'll see what I mean when we get started! Also, at the end of this chapter, you, the reader, will have an opportunity to vote on how the story should end! Now, on with chapter 5!

Chapter 5, Ill Dil Effects

Upon returning home from the beach trip that had gone bad, Lulu wasted no time. She headed off to the hospital to see what they wanted, while Stu and Didi got their car unpacked, and carried Tommy and Dil into the house, where Didi put on a Goober DVD for Dil to watch. Dil, while he felt better, felt very tired and washed out, and was pleased his mommy put Goober on for him to watch. Tommy, on the other hand, kept peering out the window to the Reptar wagon, where he had left the bucket of money a couple of nights ago, and was now, very glad they never made it to the hospital, as he had completely forgotten about the bucket of money, leaving it at home this entire time, and then, he turned back to his brother, watching Goober on the television. While Tommy knew he needed to go off to rescue his grandpa, something inside him told him not to go right away. To Dil's surprise, Tommy sat on the floor with him and watched the Goober DVD with him.

The rest of the day, it was more or less, uneventful, as Tommy stayed close to Dil's side. They took a nap together at one point, and ate dinner together, very pleased that come dinner time, while Dil was reduced to eating chicken and rice soup and green jell-o that evening, he held it down with no issues.

"I guess you're feeling better huh Dilly." Said Tommy, as he took another bite of his barbecue chicken.

"Yeah, but really Tommy, you could have gone to rescue grandpa, you didn't have to stay with me. And I thought you didn't like Goober anyway." Said Dil.

"I don't." Replied Tommy.

"So, why did you watch it then?" Dil asked.

"Well Dilly, I wasn't gonna leave my onliest bestest brother while he was sick." Said Tommy.

At this point, they were sitting in the playpen after supper having this conversation. Upon hearing Tommy say that, Dil went over and gave his older brother a hug.

"You're the bestest big brother ever!" Said Dil.

At that point, Lulu and Didi walked into the living room to see the two boys hugging.

"Awe, isn't that cute? Tommy is making Dil feel all better while he's sick." Said Didi, as she scooped up her boys.

"Yes, that is so sweet." Said Lulu.

"Come on boys, it's time for bed." Said Didi, as she took Tommy and Dil upstairs, and got them all ready for bed.

Once they were tucked into bed, Lulu and Didi headed back downstairs.

"So what's the story?" Didi asked, as she sat down at the kitchen table across from Lulu with a cup of tea in her hand.

"Well, as long as I go check out the Gambler's Anonomous meeting tomorrow, and Lou has one more final session with his therapist, and they work out a plan on how to get him financially back on his feet, since at the moment, he has no life insurance as a result of his huge mistake, he can go home, so long as he attends the daytime group sessions and continues his meds and therapy work." Said Lulu.

"But what about the meds?" Didi asked.

"For now, we have him on one SRI, and they said that Lou shouldn't be left unattended. This means, I won't be able to go travel for a while, but right now, I don't have any desires to travel at the moment. I wanna get Lou back on his feet first." Said Lulu.

"Well, I suppose if Dil is all better tomorrow, Stu and I can come with you to the meeting." Said Didi.

"I would like that very much. I'm a little bit uncomfortable going to this Gambler's Anonomous thing all by myself, not knowing what to expect there." Said Lulu.

"I don't know what to expect there either, but if this will help Pop, I'm willing to go with you to check it out, to make sure it will be a good fit for him." Said Didi.

"Thank you." Said Lulu, as she took another sip of her tea.\

Upstairs, Tommy and Dil were about to go to sleep.

"Tomorrow Dilly, we're off to rescue grandpa." Said Tommy.

"Are you sure?" Dil asked.

"You're feeling better, right?" Tommy asked.

"Yeah, just, really tired." Said Dil, as he let out a huge yawn.

"Just get a good night sleep Dil, you'll be all better in the morning. And then, we'll go rescue grandpa, and nothing's gonna stop us this time." Said Tommy with a smile, as he closed his eyes and went to sleep.

Little did Tommy know what would happen overnight.

Inside Tommy's head at Headquarters, Joy, Anger, Fear, Sadness and Disgust had triggered Tommy to fall asleep, and were having their daily meeting, when Joy caught a glimpse of Family Island, where Mount Grandpa was starting to crumble.

"Guys, this is getting serious! If we don't get Tommy rescuing his grandpa from that hopcickle, Family Island will surely fall apart!" Cried Joy.

"We've been trying, but seems as if those stupid growed ups keep stopping him. And then, over the last couple of days, his brother Dil getting sick hasn't helped matters either. I mean, you yourself kept standing in the middle of Family Island, watering the Dil plant." Snappdd Anger.

"I had to, Dil was sick." Said Joy.

"When did he become a plant on Family Island anyway?" Disgust asked.

"Don't you guys remember?" Said Joy, as she picked up a memory entitled, Planting Dil, and loaded it into the projector. The memory on the projector showed a clip from the 'Planting Dil' episode.

"I'm gonna grow lots and lots of Dil!" Didi cried on the screen, as she looked through the seeds she was planning to plant.

"Did you hear that guys? The grown ups are going to plant more Dil!" Said Tommy.

"Can they plant more  
Dil's Tommy?" Lil asked.

"Well, my mommy said she was growing heads, I guess she can grow whole babies too!" Said Tommy, just as Anger switched off the projector and took out the memory.

"Ok ok, we get it, he thinks his brother is a plant." Snapped Anger.

"He did, until we learned there's two types of dill, but I guess, Family Island liked the dil plant so much, that it stuck." Said Joy.

"Yeah, and if we don't do something soon, Family Island is going to fall apart again." Said Sadness.

"Awe, don't you worry, everything is going to be ok." Said Joy.

"You always say that. Heck, the only reason why Tommy is so optimistic all of the time is because you always do such a good job at controlling things here at Headquarters, hardly ever giving me a chance." Snapped Sadness.

"Oh? Do you remember the one day you let me have the day off? And a bad day at that. It was the day his parents tried to wean him, after that quack of a dentist came along and told them to do so." Said Joy.

"Or as we all heard Tommy tell his friends, the guy that put his fingers in his mouth. Yeah I remember." Said Sadness.

"Tommy was sad all day, and we nearly broke Health Island with a lack of something to drink that day. Good thing I came along at the end of the day after you made him cry." Said Joy.

"Only because his mommy promised he'd get use to that stupid happy face sippy cup. What a quack! Good thing you came along and got him to grab that bottle from his grandpa late that night, or who knows what would have happened." Said Sadness.

"Yeah, and ever since then, you've noticed I've done my best, to not take off another day from Headquarters. Now, we just need to keep Tommy on his toes, and make sure he goes off tomorrow to rescue his grandpa, before Family Island falls apart." Said Joy.

"Come on Joy, even if it does fall apart, won't it rebuild itself?" Anger asked.

"I don't know, it's looking pretty grim." Said Joy, as she noticed Mount Grandpa was leaning to one side, about to fall over.

"Yeah well it's not like we haven't been through this three times before. Twice with his grandfather, and one time when his little brother came into the picture." Said Sadness.

"Yeah, well thanks to Angelica, they got Grandpa out of the tired center the first time around, because we never gave up hope." Said Joy.

"Yeah, then Dil comes along, ruining everything for us. No more mommy and daddy to read to him at night cuz they're too busy taking care of crying Dil, who hurt our ears! And then, the next day while in the forrest, I almost had Dil out of our lives when those monkeys came, only you showed up and stopped me." Said Anger.

"Because Tommy had sponsitivity, and if he gave up Dil to the monkeys, Family Island would have been destroyed for sure!" Said Joy.

"Ok? And then?" Anger asked, trying to put his finger on the third memory where Family Island nearly shattered in Tommy's head.

Joy loaded up another memory into the projector, this one was called, Fall Parade. On the projector, Tommy was dressed as an ear of corn.

"First, grandpa moves out, then he broked his leg, and now my daddy says there's gonna be more changes! I don't want no more changes! I'm done with all of these changes!" Snapped Tommy at the top of his lungs.

"Tommy? Are you ok?" Chuckie, dressed in a pumpkin costume asked.

"No! I'm not ok! I'm mad, and I smell, and I'm not gonna take it no more!" Tommy shouted.

Just then, Joy stopped the memory and looked at the other emotions.

"Um, wasn't that right after Reptar nearly crushed Family Island?" Fear asked.

"Yes, yes it was. And Tommy was convinced that Reptar was the reason why his grandpa moved out, because he got all mad when tripping on a Reptar toy on the floor, and got mad when Tommy's daddy's Reptar robot thingy made a whole appear in the kitchen floor." Said Joy.

"Yeah, till Reptar stopped the fall parade, and Lulu came along, making everything ok at Headquarters again." Said Disgust.

"Yeah, but now, with grandpa in the hopcickle again, because he's broked and without any moneys, we may be in great danger. And look over there, at Health Island." Said Sadness, pointing over to Health Island, which appeared to be suffering from a drout.

"Oh no! It can't be." Cried Joy.

"What?" The other emotions asked simultaneously.

"When Health Island gets to rising temperatures like that, it means Tommy is running a fever! Oh no, why must this poor two-year-old be faced with this delimma?" Sadness asked.

"Who knew being two would be so hard." Muttered Anger.

"Well, let's just hope we keep Tommy having sweet dreams." Said Joy, as she went and checked on Tommy's dream sector, only to find the halusination button had crashed into the dream sector.

"Uh oh, he's sick all right, and halusinations and his imagination are about to battle it out, and just look at this mess, with Health Island facing a drout, and Family Island about to crumble, we need to think fast." Said Joy.

"And what are we suppose to do? Convince him to do the wrong thing?" Anger asked.

"Wait a second, that's it! We'll just eject the good Tommy and the bad Tommy into the halusination imagination portal, and have them have a talk with Tommy when he wakes up, convincing him of what to do. After all, there's a better chance of Health Island repairing itself than Family Island in this situation." Said Joy, as she prepared the portals, and sent out holographic profiles of Tommy.

"Now, you go out there when Tommy finally wakes up. You'll know when I give the signal." Said Joy.

"We will." Said the look alike Tommy's.

"I don't see how this is going to work. And besides, there's always a chance that Health Island could crumble too, causing Tommy to die, and for us to be destroyed in the process, being thrown out of Headquarters into the Memory Dump forever, like what nearly happened back when he had the Gray Plague." Cried Fear.

"Well, that's a chance we're gonna have to take. Though if he's sick, he probably caught it from Dil, and Dil got over it, so there's no doubt that Tommy will get over it too. And even so, regardless as to what's going on, well, a baby's gotta do what a baby's gotta do, and I'm not giving up on my baby, not yet anyway." Said Joy.

The emotions all decided at this point to sit back and wait for morning to come, when it would be time for Tommy to wake up and start a new day.

Back in the real world, morning finally came around. Dil awoke, feeling like his old self again, giggling and bouncing up and down in his crib, thankful to be back to normal. Upon hearing his giggles over the baby monitor, Didi came in, saw that Tommy was still sleeping, so she got Dil changed into a fresh diaper, then headed downstairs to start breakfast. Dil, eager to get his brother awake so they could go rescue grandpa, tottled over to Tommy's bed and started shaking him awake.

"Tommy! Tommy! Wake up! I'm all better! So today, we can go rescue grandpa!" Dil cried as he shook his two-year-old brother awake.

Tommy moaned as he opened his eyes, staring at his Reptar doll which was next to him in bed, then, overhearing Dil, he stared at him, only a halusination came over him. Dil didn't appear as Dil, but rather, as his Reptar doll.

"Dil is, Reptar?" Tommy asked sleepily.

Dil just looked at Tommy, a confused look on his face.

"You ok Tommy?" Dil asked.

Tommy sat up, a terrible feeling of nausea overcame his stomach, and a sharp pain in his head, causing him to have one awful headache. Still seeing Reptar when he looked at Dil, Tommy let out a loud moan, before throwing up all over the bed.

This caused both toddlers to start crying at the top of their lungs, sending Stu, Didi, and Lulu running upstairs.

"Oh no, what happened?" Stu asked, upon entering the room, only to catch site of the vomit that was all over Tommy's bed, passing out on the floor at the site of it.

"Oh dear." Said Didi with a sigh, as she saw to getting Tommy cleaned up.

"Looks like Tommy here may have caught what you had Dil, come on, I'll take him downstairs and feed him his breakfast while you get Tommy all cleaned up." Said Lulu, as she picked up Dil and carried him downstairs.

Didi took the messy sheets off of Tommy's bed, then, once they were out of site, she revibed Stu by pouring a bucket of water on him, at which time, he helped give Tommy a bath, then, took him downstairs to the playpen while Didi washed the sheets and comforter.

Once Tommy was in the playpen, all by himself, as Dil was still in the kitchen, playing with some small Goober figurines in his highchair and giggling with delight, he sat there, the headache still throbbing, trying to keep from crying, without much success, when he collapsed to the floor. At this time, it hit him. He was sick, but at the same time, he had his grandpa to go rescue.

" _Oh no, now what am I going to do?_ " Tommy thought to himself, as the sick two-year-old lay on the floor, too sick to move, yet, feeling he had to, when all of the sudden, two figures appeared before him.

The figures appeared to look like two versions of himself.

"Uh, who are you guys?" Tommy asked, staring at the imaginary figures of him standing before him, looking down at him.

"I'm the good Tommy, I tell you the right thing to do, and, you really don't feel good do you?" The good Tommy asked, an image of Tommy, wearing a brown cowboy hat on top of his dark purple hair, dressed in a blue t-shirt with Reptar's picture on the front, and a pair of brown shorts, walking around barefooted.

"You're right, I feel crummy." Tommy replied.

Then, the other figure appeared.

"Don't listen to him Tommy, your grandpa's in trouble, and sick or not, you've gots to go save him. Remember what you always say, a baby's gotta do, what a baby's gotta do, and this baby, is bad to the bone, uh, not Spike's bones thankfully." Said the bad Tommy, who looked identical to the real Tommy and the good Tommy, only on top of his dark purple hair, he wore a black motorcycle helmet, and was dressed in a black leather jacket and blue jeans, with a candy cigarette dangling out of his mouth, and a fake tattoo on the back of his right hand that said, Big Bad Baby.

"You are right, I'm guessing you're the bad Tommy." Said Tommy.

"Well, sort of, I sort of, well, I'm bad, but not quite like Angelica. I'm the Tommy that goes against our bestest friend Chuckie." Said the bad Tommy.

"Oh." Said Tommy, a bit confused, as he had never seen two of himself staring at him before.

"So, what is it going to be? Are we off to save grandpa?" Bad Tommy asked.

"No Tommy, you need to rest, like what Dilly did yesterday, and just as you taked care of Dilly, I'm sure Dilly will take care of you." Said the good Tommy.

Now Tommy wasn't sure who to listen to, or what to do. He felt just awful, but nobody was stopping him, this was his chance to go find a way to the hospital and rescue his grandpa.

Meanwhile, inside Tommy's head at Headquarters, Joy was staring at the two islands, Health Island was getting hotter, nearly about ready to burst into flames from the intense heat, while Family Island wasn't far from exploding, leaving poor Joy at a loss. Which island should be saved first?

No sooner had Tommy pondered this thought, when the doorbell rang. Stu went to answer it, to find Peter standing there, along with Chuckie, Kimi, Phil, Lil, Jesse and Zack.

"Oh no, I didn't realize we had daycare duty and Peter coming today." Stu muttered.

Just then, Didi walked up behind him.

"I called Peter early this morning. He was back from Quebec so I asked him to come watch the kids while we accompanied Lulu to those meetings and the hospital today." Said Didi.

"Oh, ok." Said Stu, as he opened the door to let Peter and the other toddlers inside.

And this, ends chapter 5.

Author's Note: Ok, here it comes. You guys get an opportunity to vote and decide on which Tommy the real Tommy should listen to. Should he listen to the bad Tommy and venture out, knowing his feverish state of mind and halusinations he's been having, could get them lost? Or should he listen to the good Tommy, causing Dil and the other toddlers to sneak out, surprising Tommy later that day with the return of his grandpa? Either way, there will be two chapters left to this story, and it's surely to turn into an interesting adventure, so, the choice is yours. And, as a result of bringing on an Inside Out spoof in this chapter, this story has now been moved to the crossover's section, as a Rugrats and Inside Out crossover. And as for the Full House reference, there was an episode during season 5 of that series, where Michelle was talking to a good and bad side of herself that appeared as herself dressed in really nifty outfits, convincing her to play with her uncle's instruments in the basement, and then, they convinced her to run away from home after she got in trouble. To vote, please leave those in PM's, as I want the ending you guys vote on to be a surprise, and at this point, I'm going to give everybody at least a day or two to vote, since I see tomorrow being very busy for me anyway, highly being unlikely to get an opportunity to update this story until Sunday at the earliest. You may still review if you want, but please decide on the ending you wanna see as a PM, most votes wins. Good luck, and more chapters, shall be coming soon.


	6. Rescuing Grandpa, Part 1

Author's Note: I sincerely apologize for taking once again, a week to get back to updating this story. Between being busy last Saturday, not feeling good on Sunday and Monday, and having a massive heat wave the rest of the week, and sadly, no, Sabu never showed up on his worm to take me to the land of many waters, leaving me stuck and dripping, well, now you know why this story has been put on hold until now. And yes, any Rugrat fan reading this note will know what I'm talking about with my reference to Sabu, as I'm referring to an actual Rugrats episode. Also, for the record, the Age Decreaser belongs to Olaughlinhunter, and the Stonecutter's Quill belongs to TheDisneyFan365, you'll see why I mention this once we get started with this next chapter. Next, I rewatched Rugrats go Wild yesterday on DVD, inspiring another part that will come later on in the chapter, see if you can figure out what it is. And finally, thanks for everybody's votes last weekend, let's move on to chapter 6, and see what Tommy decides to do.

Chapter 6, Rescuing Grandpa, Part 1

Peter walked inside and Didi closed the door.

"Hi Peter, what brings you here?" Didi asked.

"Well, I was wondering if Stu could help me with something. You see, one of the main reasons why I went to Quebec City this last week, was to meet with some famous inventors to start work on my latest project, the Stonecutter's Quill." Peter explained.

Just then, Stu overheard Peter talking with Didi, and came to see what was going on.

"Oh, hi Peter." Said Stu, as he came up behind Didi.

"Hi Stu, you think you could help me with something once I get the kids settled?" Peter asked.

"Well, uh, we're about to head out with Lulu to go visit Pop." Didi replied.

"Oh, he's still in the hospital?" Peter asked.

"Yes, though we're hoping he'll be released today." Didi replied.

"And uh, what's with all of the other kids?" Stu asked.

"Oh, well, apparently, I opened my big mouth last night on Facebook and told everybody I had returned from Quebec. Seems as if a king never gets any rest around here. The minute I return, Betty, Kira, Celeste and Laura dump their kids on me again because as far as they knew, you all were away at the beach for the week, and Kira tells me she had no idea when you were returning." Said Peter.

"Well, we were, until Dil came down with the stomach virus that's going around." Said Didi.

"And now, looks like our little champ Tommy has it." Stu added.

"Awe, well don't worry, I'll make sure the other kids don't get too close to Tommy." Said Peter, as he, Stu and Didi walked into the kitchen, where Peter found Dil in his highchair.

"Hey Dilly." Said Peter, as he picked up Dil, who smiled and giggled.

Peter then put Dil down on the kitchen floor, who toddled off to the living room at this point, where all of the other toddlers were gathered around the outside of the playpen, where the sick 2-year-old Tommy lay on the floor, nearly motionless inside. Back in the kitchen, Peter sat down at the table with his Stonecutter's Quill and a piece of paper.

"So what's this invention you're working on Peter?" Stu asked.

"I give you, the Stonecutter's Quill. The object of this invention, is I write down something on a piece of paper with this quill, and it instantly happens. So for example, if I were to write, Peter eats a banana split, a banana split would appear before me, and I'd eat it." Peter explained.

"So? What's the problem?" Stu asked.

Peter dipped his quill into some ink he put on the table, then attempts to write on the paper, only to create a giant ink blot.

"Ah, I see. A few kinks to work out." Said Stu.

"Yeah, and I was wondering if you could help me?" Peter asked.

"I'd love to, but I'll be honest, ever since Pop went into the hospital last week, I haven't even worked on any of my own inventions." Said Stu.

"Yes, we've all been, a bit, not ourselves lately." Said Didi.

"I do understand. When someone you love is on the verge of taking their own life and being stupid, it effects the entire family." Said Peter.

"Yeah, and if Deed and I weren't about to leave to go visit Pop, I'd be happy to sit down with you and try to figure this out. But thanks for watching the boys, Lulu went up to shower, but she should be leaving shortly for the hospital. Feel free though to go down to my workshop. Maybe there's something down there that will help inspire you." Said Stu.

"Don't worry, I know not to touch the anti gravity playpen, because Didi told me one time that it caused the entire neighborhood to suffer from a blackout. And I know not to touch the Age Decreaser, heck, if it weren't for me coming over to help you fix it, Doctor Lipschitz would still be a baby. I don't wish to find out what great fate the Confederacy would be in if their leader became a baby again. And I know to not touch what remains of the menorah from last year's Chanukah play. If it weren't for me coming and putting out the fire in the basement, your house wouldn't have been standing by the end of that Chanukah play and we would have never made it to hear Boris and Slomo's beautiful singing performance, and the lovely display of your son and friends up there with them. Hehaha, it's thanks to me to an extent we had a miracle of Chanukah that year." Said Peter with a grin, as he stood up from his spot at the table, grabbed up his Stonecutter's Quill, and headed for the basement.

"Well Stu, we'd better be going, we wanna get a good parking place." Said Didi, as she picked up her purse and headed for the garage door.

"Bye kids." Stu called, as he followed Didi out to their car and they left for the hospital.

Meanwhile, in the living room, Tommy lay there, feeling just as miserable as ever. Ordinarily, he looked forward to Peter and all of his friends coming over to play, but on this particular day, he would have just assumed Taffy had come to babysit. At least she'd have the decency to keep Dil entertained, leaving Tommy alone to rest.

"Hi Tommy." Said Chuckie, as he approached the playpen with his sister, Zack, Jesse, Phil and Lil.

"Hey Chuckie." Said Tommy in a sad tone of voice, as he sat up febally, his eyes half open, as he looked around at all of his friends standing before him outside of the playpen.

"What's wrong Tommy?" Chuckie asked.

"Yeah, you look really tired." Added Phil.

"And your face is all funny colored." Added Lil.

It was true, Tommy's face was drained of color and he looked miserable.

"Oh, it's nothing you guys, it's just, my tummy feels weird and my head hurts that's all. But I'll be fine." Said Tommy, as he stood up slowly and fetched the screwdriver out of the pocket of his pajama top.

Just then, the halusination figures of Bad Tommy and Good Tommy appeared before him again.

"Yeah Tommy, show your friends that you're not gonna let a little tummy bug stop you from rescuing your grandpa." Said Bad Tommy.

Tommy stood there, a chill swept over him as he started to feel slightly dizzy, the headache only getting worse.

"Are you sure you're ok Tommy?" Chuckie asked with concern.

"You're sick, aren't you?" Zack asked.

"Yeah, I don't really feel very good." Tommy replied.

"Well, uh, you know Tommy, if you're sick, then maybe going to rescue your grandpa from the hopcickle isn't such a good idea." Said Chuckie.

Just then, the good Tommy appeared before Tommy.

"Chuckie knows what he's talking about. After all, he's your bestest friend. You take a nappy Tommy, and then you'll get all better." Said the Good Tommy.

Tommy turned towards his friend.

"You're right Chuckie, I'm sorry you guys, but I can't go." Said Tommy, as he dropped his screwdriver on the floor and collapsed to the carpet, lying down.

All of the other toddlers looked in at Tommy with worry. Zack reached his hand in beneath the playpen fence, and snatched up Tommy's screwdriver without him noticing, and stuck it in his diaper.

Inside Tommy's head at this point, Fear stepped away from the controls, causing Anger to step up.

"What was the meaning of that? Now, thanks to you, Tommy's grandpa will never get rescued, and Family Island will crumble! Though maybe it should crumble, after all, this is all Dil's fault." Snapped Anger, as he stepped up to the control panel, and hit the giant blue Terrible Two's button.

"Hey! Why did you hit the Terrible Two's button? We're never suppose to hit that button." Shouted Fear.

"I don't care." Snapped Anger.

Back outside, a feeling of tense anger came over the two-year-old.

" _I'm sick and it's all Dil's fault._ " Tommy thought to himself, as he picked up a raddle in his reach from where he was lying on the floor, and threw it at Dil's head.

"Ow!" Dil cried.

"What goes around comes around Dil." Tommy snapped in an angry tone of voice.

"I'm getting really worried you guys." Chuckie whispered to Zack.

"I'm sure Tommy will be ok in no time you guys." Said Kimi excitedly.

At that moment, her perkiness was on Tommy's last nerve, same with Anger who saw Kimi's little smile on the screen in Tommy's head.

"Doesn't that girl ever feel any other emotion than joy? Ug! I'd like to wipe that smile from her face." Anger grumbled, as he wacked the Terrible Two's button again.

This triggered Tommy, now in an angry rage, to crawl over to where Dil's Goober cash register toy was, pick it up, and throw it at Kimi's head. Poor Kimi got a large booboo on her head, and started crying at the top of her lungs.

At this point, Sadness and Fear couldn't take Anger's behavior no more, so got up next to him at the control panel, and pushed him out of their way.

"What are you doing?" Anger asked.

"You! Thanks to you now Tommy's friends are mad at him for no reason." Fear snapped.

"The kid's sick, aren't we suppose to be making him act out of line?" Anger asked.

"Yes, I understand you're disappointed that I stopped the mission to save Family Island, but you took it too far. Sadness, take over." Fear demanded, as Sadness stepped in, and pressed the tear jurker button.

At this point, Kimi's crying set off a chain reaction, with Tommy and everybody else crying.

Down in the basement, Peter was looking around for what he thought he might need to perfect his Stonecutter's Quill prototype, when he overheard the toddlers crying from upstairs. Inside Peter's head, inside Headquarters, which looked like a gray castle, and all of the emotions wore gray Confederate uniforms, Joy and Fear stood at the control panel.

"I think Peter has found what he needs! Oh boy, a major breakthrough is about to take place." Joy squealed with delight.

"Uh Joy, I believe Peter's babysitting duties takes control at this moment." Said Fear, as the two emotions stopped, overhearing the toddlers cries on the speaker system.

"Oh I'm sure Peter knows what to do." Said Joy, as she and Fear continued to look at the monitors, while Fear pressed some buttons, hoping to get Peter's attention.

Back outside, Peter threw down what he was looking at of Stu's inventions and his Stonecutter's Quill and rushed upstairs to the living room where the babies were all crying.

"What's wrong?" Peter asked.

"Tommy hurt my head." Kimi cried, pointing to the large booboo that had formed on her forehead as a result of where the toy cash register had hit it.

"Well, you kids shouldn't be in here playing. Tommy's sick. You probably disturbed him, making him upset." Said Peter, as he rounded up the toddlers and led everybody out into the backyard, except for Kimi, who he sat down in a chair at the kitchen table, and put some ice on her head.

"Now you sit here with this ice on your head, you'll feel better in a little while." Said Peter, as he went back into the living room, where Tommy was now lying on the floor, tears silently trickling down his cheeks.

"You ok Tommy?" Peter asked, upon picking up the toys that Tommy threw on the floor outside of the playpen and placing the cash register and raddle on a bookshelf, out of anybody's reach.

"No Peter, I don't feel good." Tommy answered.

"Well, I understand you don't feel good, but throwing toys at your friends heads, wasn't the best way to handle it. I think you o everyone an apology, but right now, get some rest, I'll check on you in a little while." Said Peter, as he left the room.

Inside Tommy's head at Headquarters, Joy couldn't take playing backseat role, so she stepped up to the control panel, hitting the sleep button. Failing to notice the Tear Jurker button was still pressed down, this in turn, caused Tommy to roll over on his stomach, burying his face into the carpet, as he cried himself to sleep.

" _Guess I'll put myself on Dream Duty._ " Joy thought to herself, once she saw on the monitors that Tommy was starting to fall asleep, as she went and started preparing some sweet dreams for Tommy.

A little while later, Kimi was starting to feel better, so Peter let her out into the backyard to play with the other toddlers. She came outside and found them all, digging in the sand in Tommy's sandbox and having a conversation. Zack looked up from his digging to see Kimi was across from him.

"You feeling better Kimi?" Zack asked.

"Yeah, but why did Tommy do that? He's never done anything like that before." Said Kimi.

"Because of me that's what. I gotted my brother sick, and now he's mad at me." Snapped Dil.

"Now Dil, I'm sure Tommy knows it wasn't your falt, it just, happened. I'm sure once he has a nice nappy, he'll feel all better and apologize. Yet though, it might help if we do what real friends do at a time like this, and find a way to make him feel all better." Said Zack.

"Well, when I'm sick, curling up with my Happy Hippo blankie always feels good." Said Chuckie.

"And watching Reptar videos!" Exclaimed Phil.

"And eating chicken wormy soup!" Added Lil.

"Uh Lil, you mean chicken noodle soup, right?" Chuckie asked.

"Well, they always looked like wormies to me." Muttered Lil.

"I know, we can get Peter to call Rosie, she always cheers Tommy up." Suggested Kimi with a smile.

"Nah, not Rosie, what about that lady with the green hair who sings great tunes? Zack tolded me that Tommy was just as happy as can be when he listened to her music." Said Jesse.

"Uh Jesse, that lady does have a name, it's Sherry Berry, and while all of those are really good ideas, that's not what I had in mind." Said Zack.

"Well what idea did you have in mind Zack?" Chuckie asked.

"If Tommy can't rescue his grandpa, then we're gonna rescue him." Said Zack.

"Uh, Zack, in case you weren't paying attention, Tommy agreed with me, he didn't think the rescue mission was such a good idea." Said Chuckie.

At this point, Zack crossed the sandbox over to where Chuckie was sitting, grabbed a hold of his shirt collar, and stared him straight in the face.

"News slash Chuckie. The only reason why Tommy agreed with you, is because he feels like crud." Said Zack.

"What's crud?" Phil asked.

Zack loosened his grip on Chuckie's shirt and turned towards Phil and Lil, a look of disbelief overcoming his face.

"You two don't know what crud is?" Zack asked in surprise.

Phil and Lil nodded.

"Well, to put it simply, crud is approximately ninety-eight percent of your diet." Explained Zack.

"Uh, wait a minute Zack, if you're referring to Phil and Lil's eating of worms, dirt and bugs, they gave that up when we were on that island with the Strawberry's." Said Chuckie.

"Uh, yes we did." Said Lil.

"Until we came back and Tommy gotted sick with the Gray Plague." Said Phil.

"We were so upset about Tommy, we forgotted all about changing our ways, reverting back to our old habits." Said Lil.

"Oh, I see." Said Zack.

"What are you guys talking about?" Kimi asked, confused.

"I'll put it to you like this Kimi. You know how when some growed ups are tired of being the size of Santa Clause, so they go and eat less, sometimes substituting it for stuff that doesn't taste as good, hoping to make themselves smaller than Santa? Well, then something really bad happens, like somebody gets sick or hurt, or they lose their job or something, and once again, they're back to their old ways of eating, grabbing at comfort foods, once again, returning to the size of Santa Clause, if not biggerer. In Phil and Lil's case, and correct me if I'm wrong, but being worried about Tommy when he gotted sick with the Gray Plague caused you two to return to your disgusting habits of eating your comfort food that you gave up when meeting the Strawberries or whatever their name is, and beyond my wrelm of understanding, your comfort food isn't mash potatoes or macaroni and cheese, or even my personal favorite, sweet potatoes, oranges and pineapple, but rather, it's worms, dirt and bugs, and it's the bulk of your diet, or as I stated earlier, roughly ninety-eight percent in my honest opinion." Explained Zack, as he threw Phil and Lil a dirty look.

The twins exchanged glances, then turned towards Zack and nodded.

"So, what are we gonna do Zack?" Kimi asked.

"Are we taking that Reptar wagon to the hopcickle like we originally planned?" Jesse asked.

"Nope, I've got a better idea, and one that will for sure, get us to the hopcickle without getting us losted. Phil and Lil, grab the money bucket from the wagon, the rest of you, follow me troops." Said Zack, as the backyard turned into a battle field, and all of the toddlers now appeared dressed as soldiers.

"Troops, we move out at o sixteen hundred hours. And Kimi, you're my second in command." Said Zack, who was dressed in a general's uniform.

"What?" Kimi asked, unsure by what Zack meant.

"Kimi, being second in command means, if something really bad happens to me, you're in charge." Explained Zack.

"Really? Neat!" Said Kimi excitedly.

Zack turned to Chuckie with a twinkle in his eye.

"See? I knew how to make your sister stop crying and smile again." Said Zack.

"Thanks, but are you sure about this plan?" Chuckie asked.

"Come on Chuckie, as far as I know, seeing you're the oldest of us all here, you've known Tommy the longest, and you're by far his bestest friend. I think you know the answer to that question. If we do this, surprising Tommy, he's gonna be so happy, I can't promise we'll make the tummy bug disappear, but we'll certainly make him really proud of us, heck, I wouldn't be surprised if he's so proud of us, he's speechless. Now let's move out troops." Said Zack, as he and the other toddlers stood in a single file line, Phil and Lil with the bucket of money, bringing up the rear.

"Gots the monies." Said Lil.

"Good job Lil. Now, are we ready?" Zack asked.

"Wait Zack, when I was sick, Tommy tooked care of me. Shouldn't I stay behind in case he wakes up and he needs me?" Dil asked.

Zack approached Dil in the line and looked him straight in the eye, holding his head in between his hands.

"Dil, Tommy's grandpa is your grandpa too, and if Tommy were to find out you forfitted, do you want him throwing raddles at your head forever?" Zack asked.

Dil nodded.

"Answer me with sir no sir." Said Zack.

"Sir, no sir." Dil replied.

"Then let's move out troops." Said Zack, as he went back to the front of the line.

"Yes General Zack." Said Kimi.

"Eye eye captain." Said Jesse.

"No guys, the correct response is, Sir, Yes Sir." Zack said.

"Sir, yes sir!" All of the toddlers chanted in unison, as the small toddlers, still dressed as soldiers, crossed the battle field, until they got to some barbed wire, which was in realite, the fence.

"Now what are we gonna do?" Phil asked.

"Troops, this here is barbed wire. Everybody must get on their bellies and crawl single file. Now come on, we don't gots much time." Said Zack, as he lay down on the ground, and wiggled beneath the barbed wire, in reality, scooting beneath a loose board in the fence with an opening that was big enough for a toddler to crawl through.

The others followed behind Zack, with Kimi, then Chuckie, then Jesse, then Dil, then Phil, and then Lil, who scooted the bucket of money through to Phil, who grabbed it on the other side, taking charge of the bucket for a while. Then Lil made her way beneath the barbed wire, and joined up with the soldiers on the other side.

Once on the other side, Zack pointed to the Trojan Horse that stood before them.

"What's that?" Chuckie asked.

"Looks like a horse to me." Phil replied.

"It is, and it's our way to get to Fort Hopcickle without the emeny Lulu catching us." Said Zack.

"Huh?" Chuckie asked in confusion.

Returning to the reality of the now front yard and driveway, the horse transformed into Lulu's car, which was currently deserted, as she hadn't walked out yet to head to the hospital.

"Guys, if we sneak in the back of the car, and ride it to the hopcickle, then we'll get there without getting losted. Now follow me." Said Zack, as the imaginary adventure returned, the soldiers now stacking on top of one another, trying to find a door on the side of the Trojan Horse to climb inside. Zack stood on top of Kimi's shoulders, as he fumblred around, looking for an opening. Soon, he had the side of the horse open, which was in actuality, the back door of Lulu's car.

"Climb in everyone." Whispered Zack to the others, as he, Kimi, Chuckie, Dil, Jesse, Phil with the money bucket and Lil all climbed inside of Lulu's car, and Lil closed the door behind her.

Once they were safely inside the car, Zack peered out the opposite window to see Peter and Lulu in the door way at the front door.

"Quick." Whispered Zack, as he crouched down on the floor beneath the back seat.

"Uh Zack, we're not spose to write in the car like that, there's no safety belt down there." Said Chuckie.

"I know that Chuckie, but this is a secret mission. We can't let Lulu spot us or we'll get caught for sure. Now everybody, under the seats and no noise. If we're going to complete this mission, we've gots to keep quiet. Understand?" Zack commanded, as the imaginary adventure picked up again, the babies, now inside the Trojan Horse.

"Sir yes sir." Whispered all of the toddlers, as everybody crouched down, being really quiet.

Jesse was especially having a hard time with this, as he started to hum a tune. Dil, overhearing this, poked him in the ribs.

"Hey!" Jesse cried.

"Quiet." Dil hissed.

Jesse gulped and shut his mouth, as they heard footsteps approach them.

Outside of the vehicle, Peter was escorting Lulu to her car.

"If all goes according to plan, Lou should be released to come home today." Said Lulu.

"I'm sure you miss him." Said Peter.

"Oh I do." Lulu replied with a sad smile.

"Well good luck." Said Peter, shaking Lulu's hand.

"Thank you your royal hinus. And thank you for watching the kids." Said Lulu.

"Please, call me Peter, and no worries, I'll be fine." Said Peter with a smile, as Lulu got into the car, started it up, and pulled out of the driveway, while Peter went back inside, assuming the kids were just fine playing in the backyard, he went and checked on Tommy right fast, noticing he was still fast asleep in the playpen, so he quietly headed back downstairs to work some more on his Stonecutter's Quill invention.

Meanwhile, Lulu drove to the hospital to hopefully catch Lou for a short visit before he had to go off to his first therapy appointment. Unaware to her that she had seven stoe away toddlers beneath the back seat of her car, she drove to the hospital like nothing out of the ordinary was happening. While she drove though, the emotions at Headquarters in Chuckie's mind were getting a bit shaken up, as Chuckie started to get uneasy feelings of dizziness and nervousness.

At Headquarters in Chuckie's mind, Fear was at the controls, watching as Chuckie took this wreckless ride beneath the backseat of Lulu's car.

"We're not gonna make it, we're not gonna make it, we're not gonna make it! No matter how many times I hit the I don't think this is such a good idea button, either something's wrong with that button, cuz it never seems to work, or Joy takes over my job, making Chuckie look like a complete softy" Fear screamed.

"I'm only making sure Tommy is happy, because if Tommy's happy, then Chuckie is happy, and isn't that my job? To make Chuckie happy? And besides, you're worrying for nothing. We'll be ok, Tommy knows what he's doing." Said Joy.

"Uh, were you not paying attention? Of course not. I'm usually first in command, and this time, Tommy isn't leading them on. I finally got him to agree with me that this trip wasn't such a good idea, only to be overruled by Zack. And now, Chuckie's in a dangerous situation, riding in a very unsafe way in the back of Tommy's grandma's car, just to help with the rescue of Tommy's grandpa." Said Fear.

"I know, seems as if we never get a break. I'd be happy if Chuckie could just, lie around all day, picking dandelions and digging wholes in the sand, but seems as if we're always overruled." Said Joy.

"Yeah well, if we're not, we're only letting his friends down, and I don't wish to share the controls with Sadness again, not after that time when I finally got Chuckie to win." Said Fear, as he picked up a memory labled, Farewell, My Friend, and loaded it into the projector.

On the screen, Chuckie was refusing to leave the playpen with Tommy, Phil and Lil.

"I don't think I'm gonna go." Said Chuckie on the screen.

"But Chuckie if you don't open the door then none of us can go." Said Tommy.

"Not going!" Chuckie shouted.

"Every time I go on one of these little adventures I get my head stuck in a tree, or get chased by some shadow guy or fall off the mountain." Explained Chuckie.

"Mountain?" Phil and Lil asked, confused.

"Well this time I prefer not to." Said Chuckie.

"Come on Chuckie, we always do stuff together, that's what friends are for." Said Tommy.

"Well, uh, if that's your idea of friends, well, uh, you should, get a new idea. Or a new friend." Said Chuckie, just as Sadness stepped up and removed the memory from the projector.

"I believe me and Anger took control then right along with you Fear, and yeah, we nearly ended a friendship forever." Said Sadness, holding the memory in her hand, as she dropped it back into a box of several other memories.

"Til I stepped in the next day and convinced Chuckie to rescue Tommy from that snake, saving their friendship, and since then, we've never given up on Tommy, not even when he ditched Chuckie to take care of Dil in the forrest, I helped convince Chuckie that Dil was an important part of Tommy's life now, and that he had to be taken care of." Said Joy.

"Yeah, and you also helped Chuckie to be brave and strong when his daddy almost married Coco, boy was Family Island nearly about to burst into pieces that really scary day in Paris. Good thing you stepped in when you did, or who knows what could have happened." Said Fear.

"And now, Tommy needs Chuckie's help more than ever. So move over Fear, I must take control, and give Chuckie just enough courage to complete this mission with Zack, Dil, Kimi and their other friends, if Chuckie let Tommy down, afraid I'd be put out of the job forever, and Sadness would be put in charge forever. And I can't stand to see Chuckie sad." Said Joy, as she approached the control panel, and pressed the bravery button.

" _I'm a big brave dog, I'm a big brave dog, I'm a big brave dog._ " Chuckie thought to himself, as he was breathing heavily, as the car continued to turn corners, driving in the direction of the hospital, and the toddlers, lying beneath the back seat of the car, hoping Lulu wouldn't spot them, doing all they could to keep quiet.

Finally, the car pulled into a parking place at the hospital, and Lulu got out of the car, heading inside the front door. Once Zack heard the car door close, he peered out from beneath the back seat, noticing the car was deserted, and gave Kimi a nudge.

"Guys, we did it, we made it." Said Zack.

"I've never been so quiet in my entire life!" Said Kinmi.

"Me too." Said Dil.

"Me sixty bazillion!" Shouted Jesse.

"AAAHHH!" Screamed all of the toddlers in unison, as everybody needed to get the noise they were hiding inside of their systems this whole time out.

"I never, ever, wanna ride like that in a car, ever, again!" Chuckie shouted, a bit shaken up from what he had just recently witnessed.

"Awe come on Chuckie, it wasn't that bad, and you've proven to do something now that your bestest best friend has yet to do. Yep that's right, congratulations babies, you're now officially stoe aways." Said Zack with a smile.

"What's a stoe away?" Kimi asked.

"Uh, I believe it's when babies sneak into the back of a car without being noticed." Said Jesse.

"Good answer Jesse, that's right." Said Zack.

"Wow, I don't think my brother's ever been a stoe away." Said Dil, smiling at the rest of the toddlers.

"See? You've now experienced something that even Tommy hasn't managed to pull yet. You should be proud of yourself. Now, onward march." Commanded Zack, as the imaginary adventure started up again, and the soldiers climbed out of the Trojan Horse.

"Ok troops, the emeny has left, we're that much closer to Fort Hopcickle." Said Zack, now in his soldier's costume, as he and the other toddler soldiers climbed out of the Trojan Horse, and looked ahead of them to see a wide battle field with a red cross flag flying overhead.

Coming out of the imaginary adventure, the toddlers now stood outside of Lulu's car in the middle of a parking lot, where cars were driving down the parking lot, coming and leaving the building.

"Uh, guys? How are we gonna get in there?" Chuckie screamed in panic.

"Chuckie relax, we'll just make a run for the door when no cars are driving by." Said Zack, as he looked around, spotting where the door of the hospital was.

As they all looked around, Phil spotted a mud puddle in a nearby grassy clearing. At Headquarters in Phil's mind, Disgust was now at the controls, licking his lips at the sight of the mud puddle.

"Mmmm mud!" Said Disgust, as he pressed a button on the panel.

Outside, Phil turned to his sister.

"Come on Lillian, let's go play in the mud while we wait for the parking lot to clear." Said Phil.

In Lil's mind, Fear was at the controls, doing all she could to get Lil to hold Phil back from jumping in the mud.

"No Phil." Lil snapped.

"What, we're going back on our diet?" Phil asked.

"No, besides, while we were looking for Nigel Strawberry, I kind of missed eating bugs and was glad we gave that up after we returned, but we can't get muddy now cuz we'll make a mess and get in trouble." Screamed Lil.

"Ok ok." Said Phil, crossing his arms and rolling his eyes at his sister, a bit annoyed with her attitude, but then calming down, realizing what she meant.

At that moment, no cars were passing by.

"Captain Zack, it's safe to cross unknown territory to Fort Hopcickle." Said Kimi.

"Good job Second in Kinmi Command. Come on troops, Fort Hopcickle is this way." Said Zack, as the toddlers dressed as soldiers made their way towards Fort Hopcickle.

Back in the real world, the toddlers were crossing the parking lot as quickly as they could, Phil and Lil both carrying the money bucket between them, so as to not lose it, hoping they'd make it across before any cars came, making their way up to the doors of the hospital. Once they got there, Chuckie, as he was the tallest, opened the door, and they all headed inside.

And this, ends chapter 6. What will happen next? And will their rescue mission prove to be successful? Find out in the next, and final chapter of this story!

Author's Note: The idea to have them imagine the Trojan Horse as their hide out in the imaginary adventure that Zack started when sneaking away in Lulu's car was thought up from reading some Greek story back when I was in seventh grade about the Trojan Horse. Anyway, hope you all enjoyed that chapter, and, I'll hopefully, have chapter 7, up later on today, if nothing else, early tomorrow morning at the latest.


	7. Rescuing Grandpa, Part 2

Chapter 7, Rescuing Grandpa, Part 2

No sooner had the toddlers entered the hospital, when they looked around, to find themselves in a very large place.

"What do we do now Zack?" Phil asked.

"Are we gonna split up and search different parts of the hopcickle to look for Tommy's grandpa?" Lil asked.

"Heck no, how will we find each other again? We need to stay together at all times." Said Zack.

All of the toddlers nodded, just as Jesse put his hands down in his crotch, looking like he needed to go potty.

"Uh, you guys, I've gots to go potty." Said Jesse.

This prompted Kimni, Phil, Lil, and Chuckie, who were all also potty trained at this point, to do the same.

"Oh all right." Said Zack with a sigh.

"When you're potty trained, you'll understand." Said Chuckie.

Zack and Dil, who still wore diapers just looked at the others, then Zack turned his attention back on where they were going, when he spotted a couple of people coming out of a restroom.

"Feeling better?" One lady asked to the other lady walking with her out of the rest room.

"Yes, just don't use toilet number three, it looks like something might be stuck in there." Said the other lady, as the two disappeared out of sight.

Once the hall was deserted, Zack turned towards the others.

"Now's our chance, let's go everyone." Said Zack, as he led the potty trained toddlers to the bathroom door. Then, Phil and Lil left Dil with the money bucket.

"Dil, you stay out here and keep a lookout. I'm gonna go in and make sure we get this done as quickly as possible. We don't need the growed ups or even Peter back at home to discover we're missing." Said Zack, as he, Jesse, Chuckie, Kimi, Phil and Lil all went in to use the bathroom.

"Ok, have fun using the mommy and daddy potty. Tommy toldid me one time, that they can read and poop at the same time in those." Said Dil.

"Fascinating, real fascinating Dil, now come on." Said Zack, as he rolled his eyes at Dil, then led the others into the bathroom.

All went smoothly, until Zack was eyeing the numbers on the stalls. Then, he saw that the door to stall numver three was closed. Upon the person getting off of the toilet in stall number three, Zack peered in beneath the stall door to see the familiar untied red shoes of Chuckie.

"Chuckie no!" Cried Zack, but it was too late. Chuckie hit the flusher for the toilet, causing the toilet to overflow, and for Chuckie to start crying.

Kimi, Phil, Lil and Jesse had all finished up in their stalls at this point and came out right as it all started happening.

"Help Tommy help!" Chuckie cried out of instinct, before he started whailing at the top of his lungs, feeling trapped by the overflowing bathroom stall, where the water was coming out into the rest of the bathroom, getting the other toddlers feet and shoes wet, as everyone was wearing something on their feet except Zack.

"Uh, Chuckie, Tommy's not here, but I can help you." Kimi called.

"Uh, thanks Kimi, but I can't crawl under the door or else I'll drown!" Chuckie cried in panic.

"Chuckie, just open the door and walk out, you're gonna be ok." Said Zack encouragingly.

"Well, ok, at least this time I'm not to blame for this mess. I didn't try to flush a broked airplane down the potty this time." Called Chuckie from the other side of the door, as he opened it and ran to the safety of his sister's arms.

"A broked airplane?" Zack whispered to Kimi in confusion.

"It's a long story." Kimi whispered back.

"Forget I asked." Zack whispered back.

"Come on you guys, we need to get out of here." Said Lil.

Everybody made a mad run for the door of the bathroom, just as the water was starting to rise at an enormous rate, coming up to the toddlers chests, as their heads stayed barely above the water.

"Dil! Open this door!" Jesse cried.

"Huh?" Dil called from the other side of the door out in the hall.

"Just, open it!" Jesse called again, just as Dil started pushing with all of his might to get the door open.

While he only pushed it open a crack, Jesse reached out, grabbing at the edge of the door.

"Help me pull." Jesse said, as the other toddlers grabbed a hold of Jesse's shirt, and started pulling on him.

"No, not me." Jesse cried, but the twins and Kimi kept pulling, as Zack and Chuckie clung on to Kimi for dear life, as Dil continued to push on the door from the other side, until it was wide enough for the toddlers to quickly escape the great flood, running through the hall of the hospital in terror, screaming at the top of their lungs, until Zack spotted Lulu, Stu and Didi sitting in a waiting room.

"Guys! Stop!" Zack called, as he put a finger up to his lips to hush them, then, they all snuck beneath a vacated chair in the waiting room, hoping they weren't caught by any of the adults.

Lucky for them, Didi and Stu had their heads buried in magazines, while Lulu got up and approached the receptionist at the window.

"We're here to see my husband, Lou Pickles." Said Lulu.

"He's in an appointment right now, so please have a seat and I'll get you when they're ready." Said the receptionist, as Lulu returned to her seat, and buried her head in a book.

"Great, just great. Now we're gonna be waiting forever." Chuckie whispered in a low hiss to the others.

"Not if I can help it, come on." Whispered Zack, as they made their way out of the waiting room and back into the hall, where they continued to rome the hall, looking for any sign of grandpa Lou.

"Mmmm, something smells nummy!" Said Phil, as they approached one of the kitchens that was used by the patients staying at this mental hospital.

"Phillip, we don't gots time to eat now." Lil snapped.

"I'm hungry too." Cried Jesse.

"Ok, I guess, we can go get a quick snack." Said Zack with a sigh, as they wandered into one of the nearby kitchens.

Unfortunately, they not only wandered into a desserted kitchen, but one that was being cleaned, with a wet floor. This in turn caused the toddlers to slip on the wet floor, sending the money bucket Dil was carrying flying across the floor, spilling the money everywhere.

"Uh oh." Cried Jesse.

"And uh, guys, we've better hurry!" Chuckie cried in panic, as he saw a vacuum cleaner approaching a door at the opposite end of the kitchen.

"Everyone, quick, we've gots to split up and gather up the money, before it's eated up." Said Zack, as everybody went around, collecting the money. Everyone except Dil, who eyed a nearby refridgerator.

"Wow look, it's the fridgerator! I hear they make food while we're sleeping." Said Dil.

"Let me guess, Tommy toldid you that too." Said Zack, irritated that Dil was getting off course.

"Uh huh?" Dil replied, just as he toddled over to Zack, and reached down into his diapers, where he pulled out Tommy's screwdriver.

"Hey!" Zack snapped.

"What?" Dil asked.

"Uh, that's fascinating that Tommy has toldid you about how things work, but did he ever give you the lecture about a baby's personal space?" Zack asked.

"Uh, no. He showed me where Spike lives, and you can never drop a lollie into a sandbox cuz if you do, you can never eat it again, unless it's a red one." Said Dil.

"Ok, real fascinating. Well, he may have my head because he, the older brother, didn't get to tell you this one, but you're a year old now, so sorry to have to tell you this, but there's a little something called, a baby's personal space, and rule number one, never ever stick your hand into somebody else's diapie." Said Zack.

"Sorry." Said Dil apologetically, just as Chuckie came up behind Zack and Dil, and caught a glimpse of the screwdriver in Dil's hand.

"Dil, how could you? That's Tommy's." Said Chuckie.

"Don't ask me, ask Zack." Said Dil, pointing a finger at Zack.

"Hey! I was only borrowing it." Said Zack.

"Uh Zack, I thought you were the smartest baby in the world, and if you were really borrowing Tommy's screwdriver, he'd know about it." Said Chuckie.

"Are you saying I stole it from him?" Zack asked.

"What do you think?" Chuckie asked sternly, his hands on his hips, glaring angrily at Zack.

"Ok ok, firstest of all, I was mad at Tommy for throwing that toy cash register at Kimi's head. Secondly, while he may have agreed not to venture out to rescue his grandpa, I wasn't going to take any chances. He was obviously too sick to be going anywhere, so, think whatever you want Chuckie, but I took it to protect Tommy, and keep him from escaping." Said Zack.

"Well ok then, but if Tommy's mad at you when we get back, don't say I didn't warn you." Said Chuckie.

"Would you relax Chuckie? I already toldid you guys, he won't have any room to be mad at us when we bring back his grandpa. Now, we need to keep moving. How's it going you guys?" Zack asked, pointing over at where Kimi, Phil and Lil had gathered up all of the money, and had it safely returned to the yellow bucket, just in the nick of time, as when Kimi gathered up the last of the change, the vacuum was just inches from her little hand.

"We've gots it." Said Lil.

"Good, now come on everybody, we need to keep moving." Said Zack, as he led them through the opposite side of the kitchen into another hallway, lined with identical closed brown wooden doors on either side.

"Now we're never gonna find him." Chuckie muttered to himself.

Meanwhile, back at the Pickles residence, Tommy was having a dream where he was talking with a giant talking moose, when he started feeling like he needed to throw up. He awoke with a startle, as unpleasant feelings inhabited his body. He sat up in the playpen, looking around weirly for his screwdriver, not seeing it anywhere.

"Uh oh." Tommy cried, as it came.

The poor two-year-old threw up all over the carpet, and had a diarrhea accident in his pajama pants, making it an uncomfortable double whammy.

Feeling uncomfortable, not to mention, upset and embarrassed, the sick two-year-old threw himself down to the ground and started crying at the top of his lungs. Down in the basement, Peter seriously thought he had made a major breakthrough with fixing his Stonecutter's Quill, when he overheard Tommy crying upstairs. Hearing this, he dropped everything he was doing at Stu's work bench, ran upstairs and came into the living room to be met by the crying two-year-old Tommy, and a huge puddle of vomit covering the playpen.

"Oh dear Tommy, you had an accident I see." Said Peter.

Tommy nodded, continuing to cry, as he ran towards the exit of the playpen, where Peter scooped him up.

"Come on, let's go get you cleaned up." Said Peter, as he took Tommy upstairs and changed him into some fresh clothes, then put him down in his bedroom and closed the door, returning downstairs where he threw Tommy's poopy underwear and pajama bottoms in the wash, and finding some carpet cleaner beneath the kitchen sink, he got started cleaning up the mess on the carpet. No sooner had he cleaned up this mess, when his iPhone started to vibrate. He grabbed it out of the pocket of his gray Confederate uniform, to see that Mary and Rosie Hall were calling him on Facetime. Peter answered the call.

"Well hello there!" Said Peter.

"Hi Peter, are you home yet?" Rosie asked.

"Yes I am, didn't your sister see my Facebook status?" Peter asked.

"No, I hadn't." Mary replied.

"Well, I am visiting Tommy, not sure if he's up for talking to you though." Said Peter.

Rosie gave him a puzzled look of concern on the screen.

"What's wrong?" Rosie asked.

"Well, Tommy is, under the weather." Peter replied.

"Wow I didn't know Tommy crawled under the TV weather man." Said Rosie.

Peter giggled at her comment.

"No no Rosie, that's not what I meant. Being under the weather means, they're not feeling too well." Said Peter.

Peter took the iPhone up to Tommy's room, where he found him quietly playing with some blocks, trying to build a tower, if for no other reason, trying to take his mind off of feeling sick, and unknown to Peter, feeling bad about the behavior he had caused earlier when he threw that raddle at Dil's head, and the toy cash register at Kimi, giving her a booboo.

"Tommy, someone wants to talk to you." Said Peter, as he stood in the bedroom door to Tommy and Dil's room.

Tommy looked up from his block tower.

"Who?" Tommy asked.

"Hi Tommy." Rosie called from the iPhone.

Tommy ran over to Peter, who scooped him up and they went back downstairs, where he placed Tommy in his booster seat at the kitchen table along with a sippy cup of ginger ale, and gave him the iPhone.

"Here Tommy, you need to at least, try to drink this." Said Peter, as he gave Tommy the cup.

Tommy took the cup from Peter and slowly nodded.

"At least try for me? You can sip on it while you talk to Rosie." Said Peter.

Tommy let out a sigh and took a small sip.

"How are you Tommy?" Rosie asked, just as on her end, she got a glimpse of Tommy's face, and immediately, she could tell just by looking at him that he didn't look good.

"I'm sick Rosie, I gotted the tummy bug from Dil. And that's not all, my grandpa losted all of his moneys to a pirate at the tired home cuz the pirate light went out, and is now broked and in the hopcickle. I was spose to go rescue him, but then I gotted sick, and it's all Dil's fault!" Tommy snapped.

"Awe, I'm sorry you don't feel good Tommy, I wish I was there to take care of you. And don't be too mad at Dilly, he didn't mean to get you sickit just, happened. Believe me, I know. One time, I caught a really bad cold from my sister Mary, and I wasn't too nice to her for a while after that. I felt bad about how I treated her, then learnded that that sometimes, when one person in the family is sick, it spreads no matter what." Said Rosie.

As Tommy and Rosie continued to have their conversation on the iPhone, the rest of the toddlers continued their rescue mission back at the mental hospital. At this point, they all split up and looked in the different rooms that lined the hallway. Poor Chuckie got stuck behind the doors of a janiter's closet, while Phil and Lil ended up in an activity room for the mentally ill patients. They looked around, surprised at what they saw.

"Uh Lillian, I thought peoples in hopcickles weren't spose to be having so much fun." Said Phil.

"Yeah, and I thought when peoples gotted broked, they wear casts." Said Lil.

"I don't see no casts." Said Phil.

"And I don't see Tommy's grandpa neither." Said Lil.

"Better go back and find the others I guess." Said Phil, as they left the activity center and headed back into the hallway, where they caught up with Kimi, Dil, Jesse and Zack.

"Any luck?" Zack asked.

"Nope, and what's weird is, the peoples here don't looked broked." Said Lil.

"Yeah, and they seem to be having too much fun." Said Phil.

"Hey, maybe you guys just went into the all better room." Said Jesse.

"The all better room?" All of the other toddlers asked in unison.

"Yeah, it's a fun play place for peoples to go play who are all better while they wait for their mommies and daddies to pick them up from the hopcickle." Said Jesse.

"I see. Never heard of such a room, but I guess even a smart baby like myself can learn a thing or two every now and then." Said Zack.

"Where did Chuckie go?" Kimi asked, just as they heard a scream come from behind one of the closed doors in the hallway.

"Help! I'm stuck!" Chuckie cried from behind the closed door.

Just as the toddlers were approaching the door, a janitor walked up to put a mop and bucket away, as he opened the door, and was startled half to death at the sight of Chuckie jumping out at him.

"AAAHHH!" Screamed Chuckie and the janitor in terror, as Chuckie ran out of the closet and ran over to his friends, clutching tight to Zack and Kimi.

Once the janitor regained his composure, he looked down to see the toddlers.

"Where did you little kids come from? Do you know where your mommy and daddy are?" Asked the janitor.

A lady behind a window down the hall overheard this and spoke up.

"Now remember sir, if we can't find their parents, I'll be forced to call Child Services and have them taken away." Said the lady.

This sent all of the toddlers into a panic, as they ran in the opposite direction from where the janitor and the lady behind the window were talking, until they found a vacated corner at the other end of the hallway, where all of the nervous toddlers caught their breath.

"Uh, you guys, what's child services?" Chuckie asked in panic.

"I know what a service is, my mommy and daddy take me to them at this place called church all of the time." Said Jesse.

"Church?" Kimi asked, unsure as to what Jesse was talking about, as while she had been in that huge church in Paris to stop Coco's wedding, it didn't quite register with her.

"Uh, yeah Kimi, church. That's where they have these things called services, where they make you sit still for what seems like forever in these long uncomfortable benches, and the growed ups say these prayer things, and sing lots of songs about Bob and this guy named Jesus, and then, the worstest part, a tall guy in robes talks forever and ever, and when you do get to get up, they make you stand up by this little railing, where they feed you this hard round thing they claim to be bread, though it's nothing like the bread on my sandwiches, and make you drink something called wine. Growed ups love it, but I sipped it one time, and it tasted terrible!" Explained Jesse, as a look of disgust crossed his face.

"And now that really scary man back there wants us to go to something called child services?" Chuckie asked.

"Hmmm, must be a church service for children." Said Zack.

"Well I don't care what it is, I don't wanna go." Said Kimi.

"Me neither, what if we never see our mommies and daddies again?" Lil asked.

"And what about Tommy's grandpa? Tommy's sick now, if we don't return, that will only make him sicker." Said Phil.

"And I don't want my brother to get sicker." Said Dil, nearly in tears.

"Ok guys, this is our lastest chance. If we don't find Tommy's grandpa before that man takes us away to this child church service or whatever it's called, we'll never be able to live it down. Guys, stick by me, and keep on the alert for the sound of grandpa Lou's voice or snoring. Chances are, if we stay on the alert and not get caught up in our surroundings, we can find him, but we need to stay focused." Said Zack with a determined look in his eye.

"Ok, and this time, I'll take the moneys." Said Kimi, grabbing up the bucket of money.

"Good, cuz me and Lillian are getting tired of carrying a bazillion dollars in change around." Said Phil.

"Yeah, who knew moneys were so heavy." Added Lil, as the group walked down the hall in single file, listening intently at each door, hoping to hear the sound of grandpa Lou's voice or snoring.

In one of the nearby rooms, Lou and his therapist were seeing to wrapping up their session.

"Ok Lou, well, going over your checklist here, I see we've covered nearly everything in your chart. You've agreed to continue to come to the day group sessions here at Jones 4 for another week, you plan to continue to take your meds and arrangements have been made for a nurse at the retirement home and Lulu to help administer them, so you don't skip doses, or take too much or too little, and you've agreed to attend the local Gambler's Anonomous meetings we have here in town every night at seven-thirty." Said the therapist.

Lou nodded with his approval.

"Now, there are only two unfinished pieces of business we need to take care of." Said the therapist.

"Awe con flabbid, now what?" Lou asked.

Overhearing this, the toddlers stopped outside the door of the therapist's office, listening intently, to be sure it was really Lou inside that office, before possibly making a break for it. Back inside the appointment, the therapist pulled out a newspaper from her desk, and turned to the job adds.

"Well Lou, you and Lulu are in some serious financial trouble, and I understand you're in your late seventies, and retired from your job as a repair man, but have you and Lulu written your wills?" The therapist asked.

"No." Lou replied.

"It would be a good idea for you and Lulu both, to write your wills, this way your family knows what they'll be getting of your things when you two die, but wills cost money, so I've gotten the job ads, and we're going to see who's hiring, and what job might suit you." Said the therapist, as she thummed through the ads, until she came across one that looked perfect, an ad for schoolbus drivers.

"Here's a job that would be perfect for you. The county needs bus drivers for the school system, as with all of the viruses going around this winter, there's a shortage of substitute bus drivers." Said the therapist, as she read the ad aloud to Lou.

"Huh?" Lou asked.

"Well, you drive a car still, right?" The therapist asked.

"Yes." Lou replied.

"And you're always talking about your grandkids. Are any of them in school?" The therapist asked.

"My granddaughter Angelica recently started preschool, and next fall, she'll be entering kindergarten while my grandson Tommy will be starting preschool." Lou replied.

"Well, see then? There you go! And this job requires you to be up early in the morning to get the kids to school, and then again in the afternoon to get them home. It's another way to see your grandkids, provided they're on your bus route, and having this job will not only start bringing in money for you and Lulu, but it's a weekday job that requires you to be rested and alert, keeping you out of the casinos late at night, being less tempted to gamble." Said the therapist.

"Well, uh, you do have a point. Oh all right, I guess, I can give this a try." Said Lou.

"Good. So this next week, you fill out an application to get the school bus driver position, and keep me posted on how it all goes." Said the therapist.

Lou nodded with approval.

"Well, that wraps up the session, I'll dismiss you to your wife, as you're clear to go home now. Just need to finish filling out this paperwork, and we'll have you on your way." Said the therapist, as she sat down with her clipboard, and finished filling out Lou's chart.

At that moment, the toddlers realized that it was indeed, grandpa Lou in that office, so Zack gave the signal, and all of the toddlers piled on top of one another, with Dil at the top, as he turned the doorknob, and the toddlers all collapsed into the room, startling Lou and the therapist half to death.

"Jumping your hearts at that, what are the sprouts doing here?" Lou asked, peering down to find Dil pulling on his pant leg.

"Wow, are these your grand kids?" The therapist asked, peering down at the toddlers.

"This one here as my youngest grandson Dil, the rest of the kids are friends of the family. Not sure where my other two grandkids are. I'd better get the kids back out to Lulu, though I'm surprised she would have brought them with her." Said Lou.

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you all!" Said the therapist in a baby type voice, as Lou gathered up the kids.

"Come on sprouts." Said Lou, as he exited the office and carried the kids back to the waiting room, where Lulu, Didi and Stu were still sitting looking at their books and magazines.

"The sprouts and I have returned." Said Lou, as the other adults looked up from their books.

"What? How did the kids get here?" Didi asked in surprise.

"Beats me." Stu replied.

"I had no idea the little beans were coming on this trip, as I certainly didn't bring them." Said Lulu.

"And what's this?" Lou asked, picking up the bucket of money that Kimi had set down on the floor at this point.

"Well, this proves the sprouts know more than we thought. Look at this Lulu, they brought us money." Said Lou.

"Oh my goodness!" Said Lulu.

"I'd better text Peter, surely he's around here somewhere." Said Stu, as he got out his cell phone and sent Peter a text.

Meanwhile, back at the house, Rosie was still talking to Tommy, as she was trying to cheer him up by making up a story with her toys, but feeling sick and exhausted, while Tommy really enjoyed her story, he was starting to nod off. Peter though, was listening intently, finding her story to be quite cute, when he saw the text notification come over his phone.

"Uh, Rosie, I'm sorry to have to cut this conversation short, but we're gonna have to let you go." Said Peter.

"Oh, ok. Feel better Tommy." Said Rosie.

Tommy, who had more or less, drifted off to sleep in his chair at the table, was snapped out of it at this point when Peter gave him a small nudge in the ribs.

"Oh, thanks." Said Tommy, as he let out a huge yawn.

"I think somebody needs to get some rest anyway. We'll talk to you later Rosie. Thanks for calling and trying to cheer Tommy up." Said Peter, as he disconnected the Facetime call, moved Tommy to the living room couch, where he fell back to sleep immediately upon being laid down, then, sitting off to the side in an easy chair, Peter viewed the text from Stu, asking about the kids. Peter wrote back, claiming he was just about as clueless as the rest of them, and that he'd text the other parents, telling them to all come to the Pickles house to get their kids. Stu wrote back with a message stating that Lou was released, and that they'd all return shortly.

Back at the hospital, while Lou was gathering up his things and everybody was heading out to their cars in the parking lot, the toddlers all turned to one another.

"Wow you guys, crawling under barbed wire, sneaking into Lulu's car and becoming officially stoe aways, surviving the great potty flood, collecting our moneys before the giant vacuum ated them, and exploring all of those different rooms, till we founded Tommy's grandpa, that was the bestest aventure we ever had!" Said Kimi excitedly.

"Yeah I bet Tommy's gonna be sorry he missed out on this one." Said Jesse.

"Yeah but he's gonna be proud of us when he sees his grandpa." Said Zack.

"And grandpa's not broked, he's all in one piece!" Exclaimed Dil.

"And, and, at least going home, we can ride in the safe way." Said Chuckie, as Stu buckled him into a car seat in the back of his and Didi's van.

Once the toddlers were all strapped in, and Lou had his things packed in the backseat of Lulu's car, they all made a mad dash for Stu and Didi's house, where they arrived to find that the other families had shown up, walking inside to overhear them talking in the kitchen. Upon hearing the car door slam shut and the parents carrying the toddlers through the garage into the kitchen, Peter got up from the table to greet them.

"Welcome back! And great to see you again Lou." Said Peter, as he came up and shook Lou's hand, while Stu and Didi put all of the toddlers down on the ground, as Didi was carrying Dil and Zack, while Lulu was carrying the twins, and Stu led Chuckie and Kimi in by the hand.

"Uh, I should let you guys know, Tommy is sleeping in the living room." Said Peter quietly, putting a finger up to his lips to hush everyone.

"Oh, Peter, I don't know how the kids got to the hospital, but thanks for watching Tommy." Said Didi.

"No problem." Said Peter.

"So, how's that Stonecutter's Quill coming along?" Stu asked, as all of the adults all sat down at the table to have a talk.

"You know Stu, I started to examine it, until Tommy threw up and had a diarrhea accident upstairs, then, I've been so busy taking care of him, that I nearly forgot about it. It's still down in the basement, but if you don't mind, I'd like to work on it together with you, another day, once things calm down a little bit around here." Said Peter.

"Well, now that Pop is out of the hospital, I'd be happy to work on that with you." Said Stu with a smile.

Peter smiled and shook his hand.

Meanwhile, the toddlers all went into the living room, where Dil took Tommy's screwdriver out of his diaper and handed it to Zack.

"You know what you gotta do with this." Whispered Dil to Zack.

Zack took the screwdriver from Dil, and slipped it under neath the playpen fence, laying it down near where Tommy had dropped it earlier.

" _Now, maybe Tommy will never have to know I tooked it._ " Zack thought to himself, as he turned to where the other toddlers were staring, over at the couch where Tommy was fast asleep.

Back in the kitchen, Lou and Lulu told all of the other adults about his plans to apply for a job at the city schoolbus company, driving the schoolbuses everyday, to earn some money, and get him out of the gambling habit, hopefully, getting him and Lulu, back on their feet.

"That's wonderful Pop." Said Didi with a smile.

"We're glad that you're going to do all you can to solve your problem." Said Kira.

"Me too, and seeing the sprouts really made my day." Said Lou with a smile.

"Say Pop, think you could go check on them for me?" Stu asked.

"No problem." Said Lou, as he got up from the kitchen table and went into the living room, where he found them all on the floor.

"Hey sprouts, how about a story." Said Lou.

No sooner had he said this, when Tommy over on the couch, started to stir.

" _Oh no, I must be sicker than I thought, I heardid grandpa's voice._ " Tommy thought to himself, as the two-year-old sat up, opened his eyes, and couldn't believe who he saw before him.

"Grandpa! You're back!" Tommy shouted excitedly, as he jumped down from the couch, and hugged his grandpa, nearly knocking the old man over.

"Hey there Scout, how you doing little guy? I hear you haven't been feeling too well." Said Lou, as he touched Tommy's forehead, and noticed he still felt warm.

"Awe, still running a fever, well, your old grandpa's gonna tell you a story, that will help get you back to sleep. Come on kids." Said Lou, as he picked up the big book of fairy tales off of the bookcase, and sat down in an easy chair, where the other toddlers gathered around him on the floor, and Tommy, sat in Lou's lap. Lou opened the giant book of fairy tales and started to read.

"Once upon a time there were three bears. A momma bear, a daddy bear, and a baby bear. They all went out for a walk, but unknown to them, Goldy Locks snuck into their house, where she found three bowls of porrage on the table. She tried the first bowl, but it was too hot. Then she tried the second bowl, but it was too cold, so she tried the last bowl, and it was just right. Then, she sat in the three chairs. Momma Bear's chair was too hard, Papa Bear's chair was too soft, but Baby Bear's chair was just right. So Goldy Locks sat down in that chair, only to break it. Then, she went upstairs to the bedroom, where she tried out the beds. Papa Bear's bed was too soft, Mama Bear's bed was too stiff, but Baby Bear's bed was just, just, right." Said grandpa Lou, as he yawned and fell asleep in the chair, dropping the book on to the floor, with only a few paragraphs shy of finishing the story.

No sooner was grandpa Lou asleep, when Tommy climbed down from his lap and approached all of his friends on the floor. They all looked up at him, he still looked sick, but with one slight difference. His frown was turned upside down, as he wore a huge smile.

"Thanks guys." Tommy said, as all of the toddlers gathered around him for a group hug.

"You're welcome Tommy." Said Zack.

"How are you feeling Tommy?" Chuckie asked.

"Well, my tummy still feels funny, and I'm still quite tired, but bringing grandpa back to me, I'm feeling better already. You guys are the bestest friends a baby, even a sick baby, ever had." Said Tommy.

"Sorry if we disturbed you earlier." Said Kimi.

"And I'm sorry if I gave you my tummy bug." Said Dil.

"Nah you guys, I'm sorry if I gotted all mad earlier. I guess, I was just, really not feeling good, that I just, snapped." Said Tommy.

"We forgive you Tommy." Said Kimi.

"And Dilly, I know it wasn't your fault you gotted me sick. It just, happened." Said Tommy.

"I forgive you Tommy." Said Dil, giving his brother another hug.

"And I'm sorry I tooked your screwdriver." Said Zack.

"What?" Tommy asked.

"Yeah, I tooked it so you wouldn't follow us. I wanted you to rest and for us to surprise you." Said Zack.

"Well, you guys surprised me all right. Thanks guys." Said Tommy, as they all hugged one another again, before Tommy climbed back into his sleeping grandfather's lap, and snuggled up on one side of Lou, resting his head on his right shoulder, and going back to sleep.

Noticing this, Dil climbed on to grandpa Lou's other knee, and did the same, resting his head on his grandpa's other shoulder, as he too, curled up and went to sleep. Then, Phil, Lil and Jesse all went over to one side of the easy chair, collapsing to the ground, as they leaned their heads back against the side of the chair, and exhausted from their adventure, they too yawned and fell asleep. And likewise, Zack, Kimi and Chuckie, all went to the opposite side of the easy chair, collapsed to the floor, and did the same, leaning their heads back against the chair.

"I don't know about you but saving Tommy's grandpa sure was tiring work." Said Zack, as he let out a huge yawn.

"Yeah Zack I'm tired." Said Chuckie, as he too let out a huge yawn and closed his eyes.

"Me too." Said Kimi, as she let out a huge yawn and closed her eyes, as everybody fell asleep.

Back in the kitchen, everybody had pulled out random leftovers in the fridge and at them for dinner, when Lulu happened to glance down at her watch, noticing what time it was.

"Oh my gosh! Look at the time! It's seven-fifteen, Lou and I need to get to his first Gambler's Anomonous Meeting." Said Lulu, as she stood up from the table.

Zack's aunt, Phil and Lil's parents, Chuckie and Kimi's parents, and Jesse's parents, as well as Stu, Didi, and Peter, all stood up from the table, noticing how quiet it was in the living room, so went to check on things.

"Peter, mind staying to watch Tommy and Dil for just a little while longer? Stu and I promised Lulu we'd accompany her and Lou to the first meeting." Didi whispered to Peter.

"It's no problem Didi, I'd be happy to." Whispered Peter, as all of the adults walked into the living room, to be met by the most adorable sight, that nobody wished to disturb.

They were met by the sight of Tommy and Dil snuggling up with their grandpa Lou, as they all slept together in the easy chair, with Phil, Lil and Jesse, asleep on one side on the floor, and on the opposite side, Chuckie, Kimi and Zack were doing the same.

"Awe." Said all of the parents, Peter, Lulu, and Zack's aunt at the sight of the sleeping children.

"Well, I guess Lou and I can start attending Gambler's Anomonous tomorrow. Don't wish to disturb such a touching moment with his grandkids." Said Lulu with a smile, as she blew everyone a kiss, and the adults returned to the kitchen, letting their kids and Lou sleep there together for just a little while longer.

At Headquarters in Tommy's mind, as the sleep button was pressed, Joy looked from the monitors that were giving Tommy sweet dreams of fun times with his grandpa, over to Health Island and Family Island. She noticed that Family Island had more or less, repaired itself, with Mount Grandpa standing tall and proud, in one piece, no longer toppling over to one side, and while Health Island was still quite warm, she saw some flowers starting to bloom, and fruit appearing on the trees, as apples started to appear on a giant apple tree that stood in the middle of Health Island. Looking around, seeing that everything was more or less, back in order, Joy gave a little smile.

" _I knew everything would get all better sooner or later. That's why I never gave up hope, and I'm glad to see Tommy on the mend. You've just gotta have faith, and everything will be ok, getting back to normen again._ " Joy thought to herself, as she spread her arms wide across Tommy's mind, feeling very proud of herself.

And this, ends the story, of The Family Emergency.

Author's Note: So now we know how Lou becoming a bus driver became to be, and earlier in the story, references to three season 7 Rugrats episodes were mentioned. At the beginning of 'Day of the Potty,' is when Chuckie tried to flush his broken toy airplane down the toilet, causing it to flood the bathroom, and those pieces of information that Dil gave to Zack that he claimed Tommy had taught him about sandboxes, the refridgerator, and the toilet, he learned from Tommy in two of the shorter episodes, 'The Way Things Work,' and 'The Way More Things Work.' I typically don't make reference to such short episodes of Rugrats, as those were brought on during the season that had 3 episodes per half hour block, but thought in this case, I'd do that. And while Tommy isn't over his stomach bug at the end, they rescued grandpa, which was the whole point of the story, thus, ending it on a good note in that sense. And as for Peter's Stonecutter's Quill, it sadly, got nearly forgotten, because he, along with all of the other toddlers other than Dil and Tommy, sadly, caught the tummy bug over the next few days following the events that ended this story, until it was given back to him several years later, when Stu and Didi were packing up to move out of their house and retire to Florida in the year 2040, at which time, Peter figured out what went wrong so many years ago, and fixed his Stonecutter's Quill, so it worked properly, just as it does in All Grown Up, Once Upon a Magic Kingdom, a story by TheDisneyFan365, if you haven't checked it out, there are currently 5 chapters available at the time of writing this note, I urge you all, to go check it out! I thank everybody who read and reviewed this story, and as always, be looking for more stories, coming soon!


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